Four GOP Senators Buck Trump on Russian Diesel

Diesel cost $6.32 a gallon on average on Oct. 6, according to AAA data. A year earlier it was $3.68. That gap is why President Trump made a deal with Vladimir Putin to bring Russian diesel to market, and it is why seven senators, four of them Republicans, are now asking him to undo it.

On Sunday, Oct. 11, Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Curtis of Utah joined Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut in calling on the administration to "immediately reverse course." The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's release also lists Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon; some early reports named only six.

What the deal is, and what the senators say

Trump announced on Oct. 9 that, after a phone call with Putin, Russia would supply diesel in stages, beginning with more than 300,000 tons. The Treasury Department issued a temporary license, running into April 2027, that lets Russian diesel be sold on the global market.

The senators argue that the move conflicts with a 2022 law, writing that it "runs directly counter to that law," and that the administration did not consult Congress or explain its decision as the statute requires. Tillis went further in an NBC interview, saying there is "a legitimate case for saying the president's not following the law." Blumenthal said the decision "makes us complicit in Putin's war against Ukraine."

The take

Start with the people the senators did not mention: truckers, farmers and every family that pays for diesel in the price of groceries. Diesel powers the trucks, trains and tractors that move the country's goods. When it rises about 70% in a year, it shows up on store shelves. A president who looks at that number and acts is doing his job.

That is the case for the deal, and it is a real one. Trump has also tied it to pressure on both sides to stop attacking energy facilities, which would help bring prices down further. Senators who want him to reverse course owe Americans an answer to a simple question: what is your plan to lower the price of diesel before winter?

But the four Republicans are not wrong to raise the law. Conservatives spent years objecting when presidents of the other party ignored statutes passed by Congress. If a 2022 law requires the administration to consult Congress and explain a sanctions decision, the administration should do it. Following the process costs little and takes away the strongest argument against the deal.

There is also a fair concern about who benefits. Every gallon Russia sells is revenue for the Kremlin while its war in Ukraine continues. That is an acceptable trade only if it buys something real: lower prices here and a verified halt to energy strikes there.

So here is the conservative middle path. Keep the relief temporary, with a firm end date. Send Congress the explanation the law calls for. Tie any extension to proof that Russia is honoring the energy ceasefire the president announced on Oct. 11. And keep pushing American production, so the country is never this dependent on what other nations choose to sell.

The president is right that Americans cannot wait for cheaper fuel. The senators are right that the law still applies. Both can be true, and the administration can satisfy both by Election Day.