Washington takes time to explain itself.

It can take months for a new law to filter out from the Capitol to the rest of the country through news coverage, town halls, social media posts, constituent emails and the slow rollout of a policy.

But there are only five weeks until Election Day. And Republicans facing competitive races are scrambling to throw out proposals that would address the rising cost of diesel.

On the campaign trail, GOP candidates have pitched a grab bag of easy to understand ideas: pausing diesel exports, suspending the gas tax, reviving incentives for biodiesel and offering relief for farmers and truckers.

Whether any of those ideas will work is another question. There is simply not enough time for Congress to act: The House is not scheduled to return for votes until after the election. Candidates can promise a future fix, but they can’t point to any actual relief at the pump yet.

At the same time, many Republicans have focused on treating the price spike rather than confronting one of its central causes: the Iran war and the disruption it has caused to global fuel supplies. Some have begun to call for the conflict to end, but others are trying to distance themselves from its costs without directly challenging Trump’s policy.

As of Thursday, the average price of diesel sits at $6.39, almost double the average price of $3.68 a year ago, according to AAA.

Nowhere has the political danger become more apparent than in Iowa, where harvest season requires combines, tractors and semis that run on diesel. The state also has several unexpectedly competitive races for Senate, governor and Congress.

Nowhere has the political danger become more apparent than in Iowa.

Nowhere has the political danger become more apparent than in Iowa. Harvest season requires combines, tractors and semis that run on diesel, and the state is home to unexpectedly competitive races for Senate, governor and Congress.

Steve Kuiper, a fourth-generation corn and soybean farmer who is president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, wrote to the state’s congressional delegation last week urging concrete action before the peak of harvest season. He cited the “economic and mental stress” facing farmers.

“This time of year should be a positive for Iowa farmers, but the concern of affordability looms large as diesel prices go above $6 per gallon,” he wrote. “We are asking for your assistance in lowering the cost of a key input, diesel, that every combine, tractor and semi utilizes during the culmination of the growing season.”

That is why Republicans are reaching for so many possible responses. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, initially proposed a temporary ban on diesel exports. Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican Senate candidate, has backed that idea while also calling for a gas tax holiday, a diesel relief program for farmers and truckers, and renewed biodiesel incentives.

Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, both Iowa Republicans in difficult House races, have also called for action on diesel prices. Miller-Meeks has backed suspending diesel exports and gas taxes; Nunn has called for domestic fuel to be sold to Americans first and for more federal investment in biodiesel.

The candidates’ easiest-to-explain solution may not deliver the easy result they promise.

But the candidates face an awkward political reality: Their easiest-to-explain solution may not deliver the easy result they promise.

Trump has repeatedly floated a 90-day diesel export ban, arguing that keeping more American diesel at home could lower prices. Yet experts warn that refineries cannot simply make diesel without also producing gasoline and jet fuel. Once storage fills up, they could reduce overall production — tightening supplies and raising prices for other fuels.

“The irony of a U.S. diesel export ban is that it would likely increase costs for American consumers,” Alan Gelder of energy research firm Wood Mackenzie said in response to a recent analysis. “A policy designed to bring relief at the diesel pump could end up driving prices higher at the gasoline pump.”

Even Trump administration officials have expressed doubts. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said an export ban “definitely doesn’t work” and could raise gasoline and jet fuel prices. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has similarly said he was not confident it would lower diesel prices.

Republicans are also struggling to address the larger cause of the price spike: the war with Iran.

Miller-Meeks and Nunn for the first time joined five other House Republicans on Sept. 15 in voting to force Trump to seek congressional approval to continue U.S. military action in Iran. But Hinson, who has supported continuing the conflict, is trying to assure voters that she is fighting its costs without fully breaking with the administration’s policy.

Democrats have seized on that contradiction. Josh Turek, Hinson’s Democratic opponent in Iowa’s Senate race, attacked her for voting to continue the war. In Alaska, where rural communities rely on diesel for electricity and transportation, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola criticized Sen. Dan Sullivan for his consistent support for the war, though he also recently called for a halt on diesel exports.

The Iran war has cost American consumers an additional $121.2 billion since February — $66.63 billion for gasoline and $54.61 billion for diesel — according to Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs Iran War Energy Cost Tracker.

Trump has argued that the war is worth the cost. Republicans on the ballot now have only five weeks to persuade voters — especially the farmers, truckers and rural businesses paying record diesel prices — that they won’t be stuck with the bill.

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