Minority Leader Isaacsohn: Pay for Dr. Acton's Gas Tax Holiday with the $600 Million Republicans Tried to Hand to Jimmy Haslam, Not Ohio's Road and Bridge Funds

COLUMBUS — Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) today released the following statement ahead of today's rushed announcement by Republican legislative leaders and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, which follows Amy Acton's call to suspend Ohio's motor fuel tax:

"Ohioans are paying $4.52 a gallon for gas and almost $7 for diesel. They desperately need relief from the costs of the failed war in the Middle East. Vivek Ramaswamy's knee-jerk response to Dr. Acton's plan has demonstrated no understanding of how the state government works, how the budget is structured, or how taxpayer dollars should be spent.

We can enact Dr. Acton's Gas Tax Holiday, but it has to be paid for in a way that makes sense for Ohioans. A gas tax holiday could be paid for with the $600 million the Republican legislature has tried to allocate to billionaire Jimmy Haslam for his NFL team.

The state is in court right now, spending Ohioans' money, fighting for the right to hand $600 million of Ohioans' unclaimed funds to Jimmy Haslam. A billion dollars of that money was written into this budget for sports stadiums. The money exists, but it should go back to the people of Ohio. The state legislature can provide this relief to Ohioans without making anyone give up their right to unclaimed funds they are owed. 

Vivek Ramaswamy's scheme for Amy Acton's Gas Tax Holiday would defund resources essential for maintaining and building Ohio's roads and bridges and fixing potholes.

The Ohio Department of Transportation does not have surplus funding. Ramaswamy's proposal to raid road and bridge money is irresponsible and will negatively impact everyday Ohioans. It either demonstrates confusion about how the job he's running for works or a recklessness about the safety and stability of our state.

He also does not seem to understand that for a bill to be enacted into law immediately, it must be bipartisan in the Ohio House. Ohioans will not be well served by another politician who does not understand how bipartisan government should work for the people of Ohio.

We've heard those empty promises too many times before from this Republican legislature. Today they should tell Ohioans plainly how this holiday gets paid back with real, defensible numbers, not fake math. If they won't say it, the answer is that it doesn't. The Medicaid fraud plan Mr. Ramaswamy has outlined is an attempt to govern via conspiracy. We can't afford it. Ohioans have spent a decade paying for budgets written for billionaires. They shouldn't have to pay for this one too."

Minority Leader Isaacsohn added that if the courts bar the state from using unclaimed funds, Ohio House Democrats will look to the other special breaks in the current budget to make the state whole.