President Donald Trump told lawmakers he would support a 25-cent-per-gallon increase in federal gasoline and diesel taxes.

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump told lawmakers he would support a 25-cent-per-gallon increase in federal gasoline and diesel taxes to help pay for upgrading American roads, bridges and other public works, Senator Tom Carper of Delaware said on Wednesday.

Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said he was surprised that Trump raised the idea of the fuel tax increase several times during a meeting Wednesday with a dozen Republican and Democratic lawmakers from key House and Senate committees.

“While there are a number of issues on which President Trump and I disagree, today, we agreed that things worth having are worth paying for,” Carper said in a statement. “The president even offered to help provide the leadership necessary so that we could do something that has proven difficult in the past.”

Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who also attended the meeting, said the president told lawmakers he also would be willing to increase the amount of federal spending beyond the $200 billion over 10 years that the administration is seeking for his infrastructure program.

Trump previously has said he would consider raising the federal gasoline tax, which hasn’t been increased since 1993. Axios reported earlier that Trump endorsed a 25-cent increase during the meeting.

A White House official declined to comment on Trump’s discussions in the closed-door meeting but said that all options were on the table to meet the main objectives of the president’s plan.

“The president made a living building things, and he realizes that to build things takes money, takes investment,” DeFazio said.

Pennsylvania Representative Bill Shuster, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has encouraged his Republican colleagues to consider raising the gas tax as a way to keep the Highway Trust Fund -- which finances road, bridge and transit projects -- solvent after 2021. He said there was discussion during the meeting about funding.

“He understands that we’ve got to figure out the funding levels and where the money’s coming from, make sure it’s not smoke and mirrors,” Shuster said of the president.

Groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Trucking Associations support the idea of increasing the gas tax as the most efficient and easiest way to generate more money for projects, and the White House has been neutral.

But key Republican leaders have already rejected the idea and other entities, including the political network led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, are also opposed. Some critics say the tax is regressive because lower-income people pay a larger share of their income on the levy.

Revenue from the federal per-gallon taxes of 18.4 cents on gasoline and 24.4 cents on diesel has declined as inflation robbed them of their purchasing power and the average fuel economy of a passenger vehicle increased.

Trump’s infrastructure plan seeks to revamp how projects are approved and funded by reducing permitting time to two years and allocating $200 billion over 10 years -- mostly as incentives to spur states, localities and the private sector to spend at least $1.3 trillion. The administration released its 53-page plan Monday as a blueprint for Congress to draft legislation.

With assistance from Justin Sink and Toluse Olorunnipa. To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Mike Dorning, Joshua Gallu.