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Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said Monday he is going to introduce legislation<\/a> to suspend the federal gas tax, saving drivers 18.4 cents per gallon at a time when many Americans are feeling pain at the pump amid the war against Iran.<\/p>\n Republicans on Capitol Hill have increasingly eyed suspending the gas tax<\/a>, with Republican members of Congress concerned about backlash from voters due to the rise in oil and natural gas prices since the beginning of the Iran conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, despite the increase in GOP support for suspending the gas tax, some Republican lawmakers previously opposed the idea under former President Biden. Here\u2019s what a few of them said just a few years ago:<\/p>\n Josh Hawley<\/p>\n In June 2022,<\/a> Biden officially backed the suspension of both federal and state taxes on gasoline while fuel prices skyrocketed.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, I\u2019m calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for the next 90 days through the busy \u2026 travel season,\u201d Biden said at the time.<\/p>\n The move was not received well by Hawley, who said on a radio show that<\/a> \u201cthis is one of the dumbest things I\u2019ve ever heard of.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, what Joe Biden can do if he wants to have any effect on gas prices is to suspend and reverse his idiotic Green New Deal policies that are causing this crisis,\u201d he added on \u201cThe Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.\u201d<\/p>\n John Thune<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), then the Senate Republican Whip, told Fox News in 2022 that Biden\u2019s ask on the gas tax was<\/a> \u201cdead on arrival.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the administration, of course, is coming up with is yet another gimmick, another Band-Aid and something they know is dead on arrival up here in Congress,\u201d Thune told the outlet.<\/p>\n Mike Lee<\/p>\n Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Monday replied to Hawley\u2019s social media post stating that he was <\/a>\u201cintroducing legislation today to suspend the gas tax\u201d by saying that \u201cthe federal gasoline tax was introduced to build the interstate highway system.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat system is now built. We should now repeal the federal gasoline tax and let each state maintain its portion of the interstate highway system\u2014with its own revenue\u2014as was the plan from the beginning,\u201d Lee added on the social platform X.<\/a><\/p>\n