Democrats plan to give individuals $100 per month as gas rebate

US Congress Democrats have proposed three bills to reduce the burden of rising gas prices. The most notable proposal is direct payments to US citizens to help cover high gas prices. One of the three bills makes provision for sending $100 to the citizens during those months when the national gas price surpasses $4 per gallon. Besides, couples would get $200, and an extra $100 would be given for each dependant.

The bills have been proposed by Democrats Mike Thompson, John Larson, and Lauren Underwood. Citing Russia's "illegal invasion of Ukraine" as the reason behind the rising gas prices, Thompson said that the bills would ease the financial burden of Americans.

The other two bills have outlined the roadmap through which the money would be raised for the gas rebate. As per the second bill, the money would be raised by taxing oil companies' profits "deemed excessive." The amount raised would be transferred to the US households as a tax rebate. Meanwhile, the third bill also talks about taxing big oil companies and giving quarterly rebates to US citizens. The Democrats, in their press release, estimated that single filers who earn more than $75000 annually would get $240 per year, while joint filers who earn more than $150,000 will receive $360 each year.


However, oil and energy producers believe that the Democrat-backed bills would not do much in easing the financial burden caused due to rising gas prices. The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers president, Jason Modglin, said that the bills proposing a new tax would increase manufacturing costs. This, according to him, would cause more inflation, and the consumers would not be able to get much relief.

Notably, the national average daily gas price had crossed the mark of $4 per gallon on Monday. It was only $2.82 last year during the same period.