Republicans are absolutely right to be concerned about what appear to be forthcoming losses in midterm elections in key battleground states.
The prospects of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Troy Jackson becoming Michigan’s and Maine’s senators, respectively, should scare anyone who cares about America’s future and its place in this world. U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have less than six weeks to get their act together and prevent such a disaster.
That is only one reason I was disappointed to see a Wall Street Journal editorial, “Republicans Are Running on Empty,” on Sept. 22 that criticized calls to ban diesel fuel exports.
The United States needs domestic pricing structures to insulate its consumers from global panic pricing. It had such structures until 2015, with American oil fulfilling domestic demand first, at a price set by U.S. supply and demand, not by what was happening in the Middle East. Reinstating such measures could massively bring down the price of oil just in time for the midterms.
When the Arab oil embargo hit in 1973, the United States had already kept crude exports minimal for decades through a patchwork of regulations. Congress formalized that approach via the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, and this energy independence and the resulting protection of American consumers continued for 40 years.
Congress ended the 40-year crude oil export ban on Dec. 18, 2015, by passing the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Since then, U.S. crude exports exploded from near zero to four million barrels a day by 2025, 85 times the 2011 level. What Congress failed to do was replace the ban with any new consumer protections. The oil industry got full access to global markets; American consumers got nothing in return.
Now is the time to rectify that mistake by instituting both a ceiling and a floor for the price of American oil that should fully meet the country’s needs before any is exported. Because the United States has enough oil for its people, there’s no need for Americans to pay global fuel prices. Once domestic demand is met, producers would remain free to sell abroad at those higher international costs.
Being energy independent is meaningless if we set domestic gas prices based on what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. Countries that are not energy-sufficient must endure the exposure to such crises, but the United States should be immune to the whims of ayatollahs and other Middle Eastern dictators. Other countries price their energy based solely on their domestic needs. Why should the United States be any different?
All it takes is to stand up firmly to the oil industry. It is not too late for the Journal editorial board to encourage Trump to do so.
The current heads of the oil industry are being myopic and shortsighted. They should know that if the Democrats take over post-election in November, the industry would be forced to pay an excise tax on its profits and face new measures limiting its use of natural resources.
So, this is the time for the flourishing oil industry to make a smart investment by agreeing to a floor and ceiling. It is a fair trade: Producers accept lower returns on the oil they must sell at home first, and in return the floor shields them from the price crashes that have repeatedly devastated the industry.
Such a decision by the president to provide this necessary relief would be a game changer impacting every American citizen. He knows the American people need not be at the mercy of Iran after he won a war and defanged the Islamic Republic.
This decision can be made by the president alone, as President Ronald Reagan did with his landmark Executive Order 12287 in January 1981, which lowered fuel costs by ending federal price and allocation controls on U.S. crude oil and gasoline.
Trump would not even need an executive order, because the 2015 Consolidated Appropriations Act included a proviso enabling the president to impose export licensing requirements or restrictions for up to one year, renewable annually.
That is how to save the midterms.
