Matt Walsh Rips Chuck Grassley's Diesel Export Ban Push as 'Bernie Sanders'

Conservative podcast host Matt Walsh broke with one of the Senate's most senior Republicans, accusing Senator Chuck Grassley of embracing left-wing price-control rhetoric with his push for a ban on U.S. diesel exports. The criticism comes as diesel hit a record national average of $6.53 a gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA, ahead of the November midterms. Republicans are already on the defensive: PolitiKool's polling average puts Democrats ahead on the generic congressional ballot by 6.7 points, 48.2 percent to 41.5 percent.

"This is exactly the kind of rhetoric you expect from Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren," Walsh said on The Matt Walsh Show, reacting to a Grassley post on X that argued oil companies do not need to match, on domestic sales, the same profits they earn from exports.

What Chuck Grassley and John Thune Have Said

Grassley, the Iowa Republican and Senate president pro tempore, posted on X attacking Big Oil's profits and suggesting the industry could accept thinner margins on domestic sales than it earns on exports. Walsh cited the post on air as evidence Grassley was flirting with a domestic price control on diesel.

Majority Leader John Thune, the South Dakota Republican, opened the door to the idea on September 15, telling reporters, "We'll be looking at any proposal that is a viable solution... If that would take pressure off of prices, you know, I'm open to exploring it." Walsh noted Thune favored the ban over a diesel tax holiday floated by Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.

"So he's also floating an embargo of diesel or alternatively some kind of price control on domestic sale of diesel," Walsh said of Grassley, though Grassley did not call for a domestic price cap in his post, and has not proposed one. "Here we have a government bureaucrat, someone who's held political office for all 5,000 years of his life, saying private businesses don't have to earn profit. Therefore, he wants to take over one of the most important markets in the world, which is the market for diesel fuel," Walsh said. "The oil companies, like any other company, they make profits. They're entitled to whatever profits they can get. That's how it works in the market."

Where the White House Stands

Trump weighed in the day after Walsh's episode aired. Speaking at the United Nations on Tuesday, the president said he personally supports a ban but called it "a balance" and said his administration had not reached consensus, according to Roll Call. On Capitol Hill, support for restricting exports extends beyond Grassley and Thune, at least on a temporary basis: Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan has said he favors a diesel export ban until the Iran war is resolved, telling Bloomberg that "American fuel should stay home with Americans."

Why Refiners Are Chasing Diesel Over Gasoline

Walsh's central economic argument is that diesel and gasoline come from the same barrel, so squeezing diesel margins would cut gasoline output. "There are no diesel factories. If you manipulate the market so that diesel is suddenly unprofitable, they're going to scale back on their refining and that's going to affect regular gasoline as well," he said. The data checks out: Goldman Sachs has said the U.S. price gap between diesel and gasoline has widened to more than $60 a barrel from less than $3 a year ago, and that global gasoline exports have fallen 24 percent, ANI reported.

The refining industry makes a similar case. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, citing production of about 5.3 million barrels of distillate a day against 3.6 million barrels of domestic demand, argues that "Export bans do not create more fuel for Americans" and would raise prices for both fuels. Walsh also read from a Bloomberg report in which oil industry executives warned that a ban would lower prices at first but backfire, with gasoline rising "15 cents or more per gallon" once energy companies cut crude production and refining.

The 1970s Precedent Walsh Invoked

"Has any Republican actually thought about the effects of an export ban or the effects of price controls on diesel in the US market?" Walsh asked. "Do any of them remember the shortages and gas lines from the last time the US attempted an export ban like this back in the 1970s, which aggravated the shortages caused by the Arab oil embargo?" For context, the U.S. did ban crude oil exports in 1975 in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, a restriction that Congress repealed in December 2015 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, according to the bill text on Congress.gov.

Energy analysts largely share Walsh's conclusion, if not his framing. Rapidan Energy Group's Bob McNally told Bloomberg that prices would collapse in parts of the country at first, but refiners would "reduce runs and prices would rise again," The Maritime Executive reported, citing Bloomberg.

What Happens Next

Walsh closed by warning that "even alleged conservatives openly embraced the rhetoric of communists," tying it to the party's midterm prospects. Whether the White House acts on the ban, or a partial version, now rests with an administration that, by the president's own account, has not reached consensus.