Organizations participating in a Tuesday conference call with reporters were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Trucking Associations, and the motor club AAA. The call took place one day before the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a three-month extension of federal surface transportation programs that are set to expire next Wednesday, Sept. 30. (see related story)

"The time to act is now," said Thomas Donohue, president of the Chamber of Commerce. He and other speakers on the call urged Congress to complete work on a six-year transportation bill by the end of this year.

"We need a transportation bill sooner rather than later," said Kathleen Marvaso, vice president of public affairs for AAA.

While stressing their support for increased fuel taxes to pay for a robust transportation bill, speakers representing these four organizations also called on Congress to enact substantial program reforms and to ensure that Americans know where their extra tax dollars would be going. Asked by reporters to cite a number they would support, the groups declined to cite a specific cents-per-gallon figure but said they would consider supporting a specific fuel-tax increase if proposed by Congress after they could see what it would pay for.

"A penny increase would be a waste of time while 40 cents would be too big a bite," Donohue said. He suggested that whatever number is proposed, the legislation must "put some mechanisms in place so [the gas tax] continues to go up with inflation and demand. We don't want to have to come back and revisit this."

Federal fuel taxes of 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel were last increased in 1993. They are not presently indexed to inflation and thus the purchasing power of the fuel tax has plummeted over the past 16 years.