WASHINGTON-Republican lawmakers are running out of time to assuage voters angry about soaring fuel costs, setting off a last-minute scramble on an issue many see as the GOP's biggest political liability in the midterm elections.
Record-high prices for diesel fuel used by trucks and farm machinery are hitting especially hard in rural and red states, where Republicans are now locked in tougher-than-expected battles to hold on to their seats in places such as Iowa and Nebraska. If voters take out their anger on GOP candidates, the results could be catastrophic for the party, some strategists and lawmakers fear.
"Voters aren't happy, and we're in charge," warned Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.).
Lawmakers have floated ideas including a federal gas-tax holiday or a ban on diesel exports, while acknowledging the Iran war is the critical driver of prices. The fighting, which started in February, has become a vulnerability for President Trump and his party, after he promised no new "forever wars" and pledged to bring down prices.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said last week that he was open to exploring a diesel-export ban. But later he said it was up to the Trump administration to get shipping flowing again through the Strait of Hormuz. "That'll take the pressure off," Thune said.
Over the weekend, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa urged Trump to impose an export ban, similar to agriculture export bans in the 1970s. "High diesel prices ARE KILLING FARMERS INCOME," he said on X. A spokesman for Rep. Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa), who is running for the open Senate seat in the state, said she too would support pausing diesel exports.
The Senate has scheduled only two more weeks in session ahead of the election, and there are no plans to vote on a suspension of the gas tax or another measure designed to lower fuel prices. Even if senators did pass a bill, the measure wouldn't make it to the president's desk soon, as the GOP-led House recessed last week.
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 if he would support an export ban, Barrasso replied: "Well, the president is considering a number of different things that he can do."
Others say there is little chance of action.
"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, when asked about the possibility of lowering fuel prices. Asked if there would be consequences for Republicans at the ballot box, Tillis said, "Elections are always pocketbook issues, right?"
Trump nodded to his frustration with diesel prices Monday, posting on social media that the Russia-Ukraine war has put many Russian diesel refineries out of commission. "This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended," he said.
Trump said at a rally in North Carolina last week that 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 he said that wasn't the case. The idea hasn't gained traction inside the administration, a senior official said Sunday.
Diesel prices eclipsed $6 a gallon for the first time earlier this month and have continued to surge since then. Americans are paying $6.51 a gallon on average as of Sunday, according to AAA, up from $3.70 a year ago. At the pump, gasoline prices are at historic highs for this time of year: about $4.48 a gallon as of Sunday-up from $3.19 a year ago.
Kennedy traveled to Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa this weekend to help raise money and campaign for embattled Republican candidates, in states Trump won by double digits in 2024. He said he is confident Republicans ultimately will prevail, but the races will be tight.
"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."
Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts, who is trying to fend off independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska, said there is "no doubt" that rising fuel prices are putting a huge strain on farmers and ranchers in his state. But the senator said farmers and ranchers, who tend to vote Republican, understand that Iran can't 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 said voters should 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 scoffed at the idea that Republicans would be able to pin higher fuel prices on Biden.
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.).
Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, had pushed to vote on a gas-tax holiday before the House left town on Wednesday. But he ran into opposition from Republicans who fret that suspending the gas tax would deplete the Highway Trust Fund, which depends on gas-tax revenue.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) warned that it is a mistake for lawmakers not to do anything to address fuel prices before the election. Hawley said the Highway Trust Fund could be replenished later from other sources.
"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," he said.