Hinson calls on House to return ‘immediately’ to tackle diesel prices

Rep. Ashley Hinson, the GOP’s Iowa Senate candidate, called for the House to come back to session “immediately” to tackle soaring diesel prices and suspend the gas tax as voter frustration over the economy amid the war in Iran grows.

“The House should return to DC immediately to work to pause diesel exports, suspend the gas tax, fully unleash E15 and biodiesel, and work on a diesel relief program for truckers and farmers,” Hinson wrote Tuesday on the social platform X . “Americans need relief and I’ll work with anyone to deliver.”

Hinson’s post came in response to President Trump’s call for a ban on diesel exports at a Tuesday press conference in New York.

“I’ve said, ‘Let’s not send out the diesel.’ We make a lot of diesel, and it could have a little bit of an effect on regular automobile gasoline because when you do that, you know it’s a sort of a flow. It’s a balance,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

“But no, I’ve called for it. I’ve called for it within my people,” he said of a ban.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) canceled the last two weeks of the September session, arguing that much of the chamber’s legislative action has been stalled in the Senate and that members could use the extra time to campaign in their districts. The lower chamber is not expected to return to session until Nov. 9, after the midterm elections.

Hinson is running in a competitive toss-up Senate race. A recent Marist poll showed the House Republican trailing behind her Democratic opponent, Josh Turek, by 8 percentage points.

The poll found that around 50 percent of respondents said they plan to vote for Turek in November, while only 42 percent said they would support Hinson. Two percent said they would back another candidate, while 5 percent were unsure or did not answer.

Hinson has increasingly focused on the economic impact of the Iran conflict on Iowans, calling for the war to be brought to a “successful and immediate end” in a Monday social media post and arguing that residents are “being squeezed” by higher costs at the pump and grocery store.

She has also opposed Trump’s plan to import foreign beef as a way to reduce prices for Americans. Hinson argued in a post last month that Iowa cattle producers “raise the highest quality beef in the world.”

“They’ve faced tough market conditions for years, and increasing beef imports would lead to more uncertainty and instability for our farmers,” Hinson wrote on X. “We should be focused on cutting red tape for cattle producers, lowering the cost of production, and supporting market-based solutions to support Iowa producers and lower costs for consumers.”