Trump calls high fuel prices ‘inexpensive’ as diesel tops $6
WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers are running out of legislative time to ease voter frustration over record-high diesel prices and gasoline at historic highs for this time of year before the midterm elections. The Senate has scheduled only two more weeks in session ahead of Election Day, and the GOP-led House recessed last week, leaving no apparent path for a bill to reach the president’s desk soon.
The sharpest impact is in rural and red states, where diesel powers trucks and farm machinery and where the party is fighting to hold Senate seats in places such as Iowa and Nebraska. Kennedy traveled to Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa over the weekend to campaign for Republican candidates in tougher-than-expected races in states Trump won by double digits in 2024. “If you told me six months ago I was gonna be having to spend my time in those three states, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Kennedy said. “Those ought to be fat-guy layups for us.”
Lawmakers have floated a series of proposals — including a federal gas-tax holiday and a ban on diesel exports — while acknowledging that the war with Iran, which began in February, is the critical driver of the surge. The fighting has become a political vulnerability for Trump after he pledged during his 2024 campaign to bring down prices and avoid new “forever wars.”
Senate Majority Leader Thune said last week he was open to exploring a diesel-export ban. He later said it was up to the Trump administration to restore shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz. “That’ll take the pressure off,” Thune said.
Over the weekend, Grassley urged Trump on X to impose an export ban similar to agricultural export bans from the 1970s. “High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME,” he wrote. A spokesman for Rep. Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa), who is running for the open Senate seat in the state, said she would also support pausing diesel exports.
There are no plans, however, to vote on either suspending the gas tax or another measure designed to lower fuel prices. Even if senators did pass a bill, the measure would not reach Trump’s desk before the election.
Some Republicans would rather not talk about it. “See you later,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told a reporter who asked what Congress or the administration could do about high diesel prices. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday whether he would support an export ban, Barrasso replied: “Well, the president is considering a number of different things that he can do.”
Others warned of limited prospects. “I don’t think there’s gonna be a discernible decrease over the next 48 days before the election,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), who is retiring after this term. “Elections are always pocketbook issues, right?”
Trump on Monday pointed to the Russia-Ukraine war as a source of pressure on diesel prices, posting on social media that the conflict has put many Russian diesel refineries out of commission. “This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended,” he wrote. At a rally in North Carolina last week, Trump said high fuel prices were “a very inexpensive price to pay” for the Iran war and that prices would retreat “like rocket ships in reverse.”
At a G-20 event in Houston, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the administration would consider an export ban if it thought it might actually lower prices, but said that wasn’t the case. The idea has not gained traction inside the administration, a senior official said Sunday.
Sen. Pete Ricketts (R., Neb.), who is trying to fend off independent Dan Osborn in his state, said there is “no doubt” that rising fuel prices are putting a huge strain on farmers and ranchers. But he said farmers and ranchers, who tend to vote Republican, understand that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. “They’ve killed tens of thousands of their own people. They would kill thousands of ours in a heartbeat,” Ricketts said.
Close Trump allies argued voters should instead blame former President Joe Biden. “Look, this is a temporary situation,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.). The Biden administration “wanted to get rid of the internal combustion engine, and gas prices would continue to climb in perpetuity because they didn’t want people to drive cars, or trucks that take diesel fuel,” he said.
Democrats rejected that argument. “It is pretty clear that Donald Trump is the guy who unilaterally decided to send us to war with the totally foolish assumption that it’d be over in a couple of days,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D., Vt.).
In the House, Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, had pushed to vote on a gas-tax holiday before the chamber left town on Wednesday. He ran into opposition from Republicans who worried that suspending the gas tax would deplete the Highway Trust Fund, which depends on gas-tax revenue.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) warned that not doing anything to address fuel prices before the election would be a mistake. The Highway Trust Fund could be replenished later from other sources, he said. “For candidates who are going home and campaigning, and voters say, ‘What have you done to bring down energy prices?’ I mean, I don’t know what these candidates are going to say,” Hawley said.