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WASHINGTON -- While House Republicans are working hard to pass President Bush’s tax cuts through the front door, a powerful bipartisan coalition is working to hike the gas tax through the back door. <br>Furthermore, some junior Republican lawmakers who are mounting a revolt against the plan are being told to “sit down and shut up,” according to sources speaking to NewsMax.com on condition of anonymity. NewsMax can report the pressure is tremendous.<br><br>The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership is pushing a $375 billion dollar highway/transit measure - dubbed the Young-Oberstar Bill after its sponsors - to be funded through an increase in the federal gasoline tax.<br><br>Already, barely “out of the chute,” 22 mostly junior GOP lawmakers have signed on to a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert strongly objecting to socking America’s motorists right in the wallet.<br><br>“Current proposals to raise the gas tax are ill-timed and are not helpful to the efforts by you and others to pass the president’s Economic Growth Proposal and institute much needed tax relief for the American people,” reads a letter now being circulated by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., “While the war in Iraq came to a quick and decisive end, there still remains much uncertainty in the Middle East. Due to this uncertainty, the market for gasoline remains volatile and prices could increase with any fluctuations in the price of crude oil.”<br><br>On Tuesday, House Transportaiton Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and Ranking Member James Oberstar, D-Minn.,called a news conference to trumpet a report that claims the bill “would provide a significant enhance to the economy...and increase disposable income...”<br><br>Some of rank-and-file Republican lawmakers are not buying the idea that raising taxes in the teeth of an economic downturn is a smart idea. Musgrave makes the following points:<br><br><br>The current federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.<br><br>State taxes on gasoline average just over 22 cents.<br><br>This represents an annual tax burden of $660 for the average family.<br><br>Every penny increase in the gas tax increases that family’s annual tax bill by $25.<br><br>If a 5.4 cent increase in the gas tax is enacted, each family could see its yearly tax burden increase by $135. <br><br>The total gas tax incurred by each family annually would be almost $800.<br>There are those who will call the above figures “chump change.” That perspective comes from spending too many years in the rarified atmosphere of Washington. Mom and Dad trying to make ends meet while raising kids would have a different view.<br><br>The lawmakers in the Musgrave circulated letter cite the economic burden on America’s families and vow, “Therefore, we will oppose any and all efforts to raise or index the gasoline tax.” <br><br>They add a gas tax increase is “counterproductive” to GOP efforts not only to pass President Bush‘s tax cuts, but also “to put a lid on federal spending.”<br><br>The Wall Street Journal has editorially labeled the Young-Oberstar measure “a Porky Pig bill.”<br><br>The congressmen going against Young and Oberstar are taking a big step in standing up for America’s families. The Transportation Committee holds the strings to a lot of pork that affects virtually every congressional district in the nation. <br><br>Aside from Musgrave, those who had signed on to the letter of protest as of late Wednesday, included John Shadegg, R-Ariz.; Chris Cannon, R-Utah; Mike Pence, R- Ind.; Todd Akin, R-Mo.; Rob Bishop, R-Utah; Joel Hefley, R-Colo.; Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md.; Jim DeMint,R-S.C.; Pat Toomey, R-Pa; Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo; Chris Smith, R-N.J.; Duke Cunningham, R-Calif; Jeb Hensnarling, R-Tex.; Trent Franks, R-Ariz.; Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; John Kline, R-Minn.; Tom Feeney, R-Fla.; JD Hayworth, R-Ariz.; Sue Myrick, R.-N.C.; Joe Barton, R-Tex.; Dan Burton, R-Ind.<br><br>Young and Oberstar pack plenty of clout on Capitol Hill. How their bill registers with the top House leadership is unclear. That is one reason why one lawmaker familiar with leadership deliberations expressed to NewsMax no enthusiasm for hiking the gas tax. That does not necessarily indicate how this will play out. Families throughout the nation, of course, can express their views to their own congressman.<br><br>Musgrave, a freshman, was circulating her letter on the House floor during a vote just as this report was being filed. Hopefully, there will be more names added. NewsMax will remain on top of the story.<br><br>