When the U.S. and Israel launched a wave of strikes on Iran over the weekend, some Democrats warned about the impact on energy costs. Now that those predictions have come to pass with an uptick in global prices for natural gas and crude oil, Democrats are pouncing — and Republicans are pushing back.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) started to set the tone for the GOP’s messaging Monday afternoon, saying he expected prices to return to prewar levels soon.
“I think that there will be, hopefully, a cessation of this in the not-too-distant future, at which time my assumption is that that’ll stabilize a bit,” Thune said. “Anything that happens in the Middle East seems to set off an increase in oil prices.”
Other Senate Republicans are also giving the administration some breathing room for the time being. Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) said that while fluctuating energy prices are worth watching, “it seems to be second-tier right now.” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) agreed it was “a little soon to be saying that this is going to be a major issue.”
Like a number of energy industry analysts, some Republicans are pointing to policies boosting domestic energy production as a potential cushion that could soften the impact of the price volatility. Indeed, other recent instability in the Middle East has not translated into major price spikes.
“We’ve worked hard to be more self-sustaining so that we don’t have this,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). “We have the means to make our own supply. So I’m really not too worried about that.”
But Capito also conceded that voters could get frustrated if the war continues and their wallets start to feel the pinch.
“When they feel prices at the pump,” Capito said, “they don’t like it.”
It could become a difficult balancing act for the GOP in an election year that’s becoming all about affordability — especially as President Donald Trump warns of a conflict that could take weeks to resolve.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), during a floor speech Monday, said Americans “don’t want a war that raises the price of gas at the pump.”
“Trump is raising prices at home while razing countries abroad,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) posted on X. “In addition to untold casualties, Trump’s illegal war with Iran will lead to skyrocketing oil prices, and we know the Big Oil vultures are already circulating.”
The topic came up Monday during Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s briefing of congressional leadership on Capitol Hill, where he acknowledged that the administration knew energy prices would be affected as a result of the strikes. Rubio also said Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would manage a response to be announced Tuesday, but did not specify what the response would be.
The impact of the overseas turmoil on energy prices is likely to come up again Tuesday afternoon, when Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other administration officials return to the Hill to brief members of the House and Senate.
Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the administration needs to do a lot more explaining.
“Is there a strategy? Is there a goal? Because right now, all of that seems missing, and in the meantime, we’re going to have American consumers paying very real costs with respect to energy,” Heinrich said.
Amelia Davidson, Nico Portuondo and Pavan Acharya contributed to this report.
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