Support for 5-Cent Gas Tax Hike Fades as House Prepares for Recess : Legislation: A vote on the transportation bill is delayed until September. Backing for nickel-a-gallon increase collapses over move to divert proceeds.

Prospects for passage of a controversial nickel-a-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax sank Friday as Congress prepared to leave on a monthlong recess without taking action on a $153.5-billion transportation measure that the new levy would help finance.

Although the tax increase was pushed strongly by House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), a last-minute move to divert some of the gas tax proceeds to the Treasury, instead of using all the money for highway and transit projects, caused widespread defections among rank-and-file lawmakers.

The reaction of Orange County’s senior member on the House public works panel was typical. Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), who represents southern Orange County, said he had reluctantly agreed to support the tax plan because the transportation bill would provide billions in much-needed transportation aid for California. But, Packard said, he changed his mind because “my support for the . . . gas tax was strictly based on the full 5 cents being used for road building and transportation. Not one cent of it was to go for any other purpose.”

The county’s other representatives--Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton), Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach)--have opposed from the outset any increase in the gasoline tax.

As many as 130 of the 267 House Democrats were ready to break ranks over the diversion of the gas tax money and vote against the bill, House Republicans were told at a party caucus Friday morning.

A majority of the 166 House Republicans were said to oppose the new tax even before the diversion issue surfaced, and many others said they would withdraw their support after the issue arose.

The defections, stemming largely from by action taken Wednesday night by the House Ways and Means Committee, prompted House leaders to abandon plans to bring the transportation bill to the House floor for a vote today. Instead, the leaders decided to put off consideration of the legislation until mid-September.

“The sand was starting to wash away under people’s feet because of the confusion (over) what was happening,” said Rep. Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose), one of the principal authors of the five-year transportation bill.

Growing criticism over the $6.8 billion in specially earmarked “pork barrel” projects for members’ home districts also contributed to the erosion of support, congressional aides said. The “special project” money includes $6.8 million to widen Bristol Street through Santa Ana and $20 million to improve the safety of railroad crossings between Los Angeles and San Diego.

The Bush Administration has vowed to veto any transportation measure that includes an increase in the gas tax. The Senate has passed a $123-billion highway and transit measure that includes no tax hike.

At a press conference Friday, leaders of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation who wrote the legislation, said they have no immediate plans to strip the tax proposal from their transportation package. But they did not rule out such action.

Privately, one key House Republican said that chances are now only “30% to 40%” that House leaders will return in September with a transportation bill that includes an increase in the gasoline tax.

The House bill would replace the current system, largely put in place 35 years ago, for parceling out to the states billions of dollars in federal aid for highways, bridges, bus lines and rail systems. During its life, the House bill would nearly double the amount of federal money that has been spent on transportation during the last five years, giving states increased flexibility to shift highway funds to mass transit projects.

To help pay for the $153.5-billion program, the public works committee decided that it needed to increase the gasoline tax to 19 cents a gallon beginning next January. The extra nickel would raise between $30 billion and $33 billion over the life of the five-year measure, aides estimate.

But the plan ran into trouble Wednesday night when the Ways and Means Committee decided to allow only 75% of the money that would be raised by the new gasoline tax to be paid into the highway trust fund for financing transportation improvements. The other 25%, the committee decided, should be paid into the Treasury’s general fund to compensate for the loss of corporate income tax revenues resulting from increased deductions for gasoline taxes.