Gas tax holiday sputtering

President Joe Biden’s call for a three-month suspension of the 18-cent federal gas tax in response to soaring gas prices has, thankfully, landed with a bipartisan thud in Congress. The idea, an old fallback for politicians when pump prices rise, is virtually always a bad one, providing meager relief to motorists while blowing major holes in highway budgets. The administration should let this notion sputter out.

There are certain issues — the stock market, inflation and, yes, gas prices — on which any sitting president gets outsize credit or blame despite having little actual control. In that sense, Biden is the victim of bad economic timing. It doesn’t take clairvoyance to predict that, if a Republican were in the White House right now, Democrats would be just as merciless about assigning blame.

None of which mitigates the stench of desperation that surrounds Biden’s call for a gas tax holiday, an idea that may ultimately prove as bad politically as it is economically. Biden’s announcement Wednesday felt like a flailing attempt to do something, anything, to get this albatross off his neck. While most congressional Democrats might grudgingly go along with it out of loyalty, there’s enough in-party hesitation to almost declare it dead on arrival.

As it should be. Do the math: A typical gas tank holds around 15 gallons. An 18-cent-per-gallon savings translates into less than $3 per tank. That’s not going to salvage anyone’s summer vacation — but it would cost the already-underfunded Highway Trust Fund some $10 billion, by the administration’s own estimate.

Yes, gas prices are tanking Biden’s approval numbers and, by extension, whatever chance Democrats still had to hold Congress in the midterms. But turning to an idea that former President Barack Obama once correctly labeled a “gimmick” isn’t the way to regain the public’s trust.