Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has sounded the alarm over punishing diesel prices, but his proposed answer has sparked an entirely different kind of fury online.
Grassley wrote Saturday that diesel had reached $6.57 in Iowa and asked why President Donald Trump does not impose an embargo on diesel exports, comparing the idea with agricultural export restrictions used by presidents in the 1970s. He warned that high fuel costs are “KILLING FARMERS INCOME.”
The pain at the pump is real. AAA data shows diesel prices in parts of Iowa hovering around record territory, including $6.28 in Iowa City on September 21.
But when Grassley’s post reached Reddit, sympathy was in short supply.
One commenter summed up the mood with biting sarcasm: “‘Won’t somebody do something’ asks one of those capable of doing something.” Another wrote, “If only Congress were like, a co-equal branch of government, or something.”
The criticism was clear: commenters were not simply angry about diesel. They were questioning why a sitting senator was publicly asking the president to act rather than emphasizing what Congress itself could do through legislation, oversight and political pressure.
Grassley’s Diesel Fix Gets Torched Too
Several Reddit users argued that restricting diesel exports could backfire rather than deliver the cheap fuel Grassley wants.
One lengthy response claimed that cutting U.S. exports from the international market could tighten global supply, increase prices elsewhere and create distribution problems inside the United States. Another commenter offered a shorter verdict: “Short term gain for future pain. Please don’t do this.”
There is at least some hard data behind the broader concern about how tightly connected the market is.
The United States exported roughly 1.43 million barrels per day of distillate fuel oil in June, according to the Energy Information Administration, with about 1.31 million barrels per day coming from the Gulf Coast alone. That does not by itself prove an export ban would increase domestic prices, but it shows Grassley is talking about disrupting a substantial existing trade flow, not simply keeping a few extra tanker trucks in Iowa.
For farmers staring at soaring operating costs, Grassley has identified a genuine problem. The online backlash is about what comes next.
Reddit commenters want to know why their senator appears to be asking somebody else to solve it, while others are asking whether his proposed cure could create an entirely new headache.
That leaves Grassley facing two uncomfortable questions at once: what should Washington actually do about diesel prices, and who, exactly, is supposed to be doing it?
