The gas tax holiday supported by presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be dead on arrival in the House, Democrats made plain Thursday.

It was senior aides behind the scenes who described the idea as “DOA,” but the party’s topmost leaders were clear that they sided firmly with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the only White House contender who opposes suspending the gas tax.

Pelosi gave this apparent coup de grâce to the tax holiday just a day after Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said suspending the gas tax would “not be a policy that I would think is particularly positive.”
Nevertheless, some members of the Democratic Caucus as well as the Republican Conference continue to advocate the idea.

“We were just talking about that this morning,” said Rep. Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), a Clinton supporter and senior member of both the Ways and Means Committee and the Joint Tax Committee.

“Clearly something needs to be done,” he added, referring to the record price of gasoline and diesel fuel and to the record profits of oil companies that are what he called “beyond huge.”

“I think what we need to do in the next few days is take a hard look at [suspending the gas tax],” he said.

Levin would not say if this would mean hearings or other action by Ways and Means. “That’s going to be up to the chairman,” he pointed out. A Ways and Means spokesman said the committee had no plans to push a gas tax holiday. But another Ways and Means Democrat said he would support a suspension and hinted that he would like to see a firm proposal.

“I’d be for it,” said Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), who is also a Clinton supporter. He said Clinton’s push for a gas tax break showed her blue-collar campaign theme: “I think it’s a good idea and I think it’s reflective of the pain that the working poor and working-class Americans have been feeling at the pump, and Sen. Clinton has really been in tune with that.”

He drew a further distinction on the plans proposed by Clinton, which he said would be paid for, and McCain, which he said would be financed by borrowing.

Clinton, McCain, and Obama continue to use the issue and the price of gasoline to hammer away at each other on the presidential campaign trail.

It was two weeks ago that McCain first suggested suspending the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gas tax this summer, during peak driving months, as a way to give drivers a break. Clinton quickly endorsed the idea, and now both McCain and Clinton are sharply criticizing Obama’s opposition to it.

Gas prices, and what to do about them, have become the latest weapon of choice for Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

House Republicans stacked more blame on Democrats for both spiraling gas prices and for failing to act to bring them down, but most GOP lawmakers are not fully endorsing the proposal of their White House candidate.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said only that the idea was “worthy of consideration,” during a Thursday press conference.

Other Republicans were less obscure. “Hate it,” said Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), an early McCain supporter. “It has some attractiveness but the difficulty is that by [draining the highway trust fund] it will make the problem worse.”

If roads and bridges fall into further disrepair, lengthening traffic delays and wasting more gasoline, the fuel problem will get worse, he said, and then taxes would have to rise again after the holiday.

Deputy Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) praised the McCain proposal, saying, “This proposal is about relief for working families.”

Lawmakers could find a way to provide permanent relief, such as implementing a strong-dollar policy, and encourage the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to repeal the ethanol mandate, Cantor added.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the ranking member of the Budget Committee, said the proposal was “fine” as long as the cost was offset. This seemingly aligns him with Clinton, not McCain.

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) agreed with Ryan and expressed similar concern over suspending the tax without subsidizing the highway trust fund another way.