II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2161

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose a 1 year moratorium

on certain diesel fuel excise taxes and to require the Secretary of the

Treasury to transfer amounts to the Highway Trust Fund to cover

any shortfall.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 2, 2000

Mr. CAMPBELL (for himself, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. BIDEN, Mr.

BUNNING, Mr. CONRAD, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. KERREY, Mr. GREGG, Ms.

COLLINS, Mr. HUTCHINSON, and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose

a 1 year moratorium on certain diesel fuel excise taxes

and to require the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer

amounts to the Highway Trust Fund to cover any shortfall.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Transpor5 tation Recovery and Highway Trust Fund Protection Act

6 of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. 1 YEAR MORATORIUM ON CERTAIN DIESEL FUEL

2 EXCISE TAXES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4081(d) of the Internal

4 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to termination) is

5 amended—

6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as

7 paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively,

8 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol9 lowing new paragraph:

10 ‘‘(2) DIESEL FUEL.—The rate of tax specified

11 in subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii) with respect to diesel fuel

12 shall be—

13 ‘‘(A) zero during the 1 year period begin14 ning on the date of the enactment of this para15 graph, and

16 ‘‘(B) 4.3 cents per gallon after September

17 30, 2005.’’, and

18 (3) by striking ‘‘clauses (i) and (iii) of sub19 section (a)(2)(A)’’ in paragraph (1) and inserting

20 ‘‘subsections (a)(2)(A)(i) and (a)(2)(A)(iii) with re21 spect to kerosene’’.

22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

23 (1) Subclause (I) of section 4041(a)(1)(C)(iii)

24 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to

25 rate of tax on certain buses) is amended by striking

26 ‘‘shall be 7.3 cents per gallon (4.3 cents per gallon
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1 after September 30, 2005).’’ and inserting ‘‘shall

2 be—

3 ‘‘(aa) zero during the 1 year

4 period beginning on the date of

5 the enactment of the American

6 Transportation Recovery and

7 Highway Trust Fund Protection

8 Act of 2000,

9 ‘‘(bb) 7.3 cents per gallon

10 after the end of the 1 year period

11 under item (aa), and before Octo12 ber 1, 2005, and

13 ‘‘(cc) 4.3 cents per gallon

14 after September 30, 2005.’’.

15 (2) Section 4081(c)(6) of such Code is amended

16 by inserting ‘‘(other than paragraph (5))’’ after

17 ‘‘subsection’’.

18 (3) Section 6412(a)(1) of such Code is

19 amended—

20 (A) by inserting ‘‘(the date of the enact21 ment of the American Transportation Recovery

22 and Highway Trust Fund Protection Act of

23 2000, in the case of diesel fuel)’’ after ‘‘October

24 1, 2005’’ both places it appears,
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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘(the date which is 6

2 months after the date of the enactment of such

3 Act, in the case of diesel fuel) after ‘‘March 31,

4 2006’’ both places it appears, and

5 (C) by inserting ‘‘(the date which is 3

6 months after the date of the enactment of such

7 Act, in the case of diesel fuel) after ‘‘January

8 1, 2006’’.

9 (4) Section 6427(f)(4) of such Code is amended

10 by inserting ‘‘(during the 1 year period beginning on

11 the date of the enactment of the American Trans12 portation Recovery and Highway Trust Fund Pro13 tection Act of 2000, in the case of diesel fuel)’’ after

14 ‘‘September 30, 2007’’.

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), the amendments made by this section

18 shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this

19 section.

20 (2) DECREASE IN CRUDE OIL PRICES.—If the

21 Secretary of Treasury determines that the average

22 refiner acquisition costs for crude oil are equal to or

23 less than such costs were on December 31, 1999, the

24 amendments made by this section shall cease to take

25 effect and the Internal Revenue Code shall be ad-
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1 ministered as if such amendments did not take ef2 fect.

3 SEC. 3. TRANSFER OF AMOUNTS TO HIGHWAY TRUST FUND

4 TO COVER SHORTFALL DUE TO MORATO5 RIUM.

6 The Secretary of the Treasury shall from time to time

7 transfer from the general fund, out of amounts not other8 wise appropriated, to the Highway Trust Fund (estab9 lished under section 9503 of the Internal Revenue Code

10 of 1986) amounts equal to the amounts which the Sec11 retary determines are not appropriated to such Fund as

12 a result of the amendments made by section 2 of this Act.

Æ