Armey Offers Gas Price Reduction Plan

The House would likely go along if the Senate votes to suspend the 18-cent federal gas tax, but a new way would have to be found to pay for highway construction, the House majority leader says. At any rate, Rep. Dick Armey said, suspending the tax would be a temporary fix to a permanent problem of high gasoline prices. More helpful would be to augment the natural gas delivery system, deal more forcefully with foreign oil suppliers and cut down on oil imports, he said. “Let’s look at building natural gas lines so people in the Northeast can be . . . heating with good, clean, reliable, inexpensive natural gas,” said Armey (R-Texas). “Let’s have a foreign policy that allows us to get some respect out of the OPEC nations that we deserve--and we fought for, by the way. And then let’s . . . reduce our domestic dependence on foreign oil.”