Lemme see if I understand

Our  erstwhile politicians in Washington have passed rules and regulations that mandate higher gas mileage standards for cars and trucks.  Now vehicles use less gas. Since cars use less gas then the gas taxes collected are lower.

Well, duh!

Now the politicians from both parties are trying to blame the lower gas prices as an excuse to raise the federal gas tax. The only problem is that tax is a flat rate per gallon (about 18 cents) and bears no relation to the rising or falling cost of crude or refined gasoline. The government is not collecting less tax because of oil prices but rather because of their own short-sided stupidity. (Quick aside -  if high prices were an indication that Big Oil was greedy, what do lower prices mean?).

This is not the first instance of lawmakers inability to see consequences for their laws. When the raised cigarette taxes to encourage smokers to quit, the politicos were shocked when cigarette tax revenue fell. When Congress mandated employers must pay health insurance for anyone who works 30 hours a week employers cut hours .

Here is a plan, instead of raising gas taxes, how about we cut the automatic funding increases in government programs. Better yet, how about actual funding cuts if we need money for infrastructure. Fund it that way. I know, use the money Obama has planned for free college.  BTW, what happened to the billion dollars in Obama's Stimulus that was supposed to rebuild the bridges and roads?