House Republicans have left Washington for a seven-week pre-midterms recess — but not before showing some nerves about the rising cost of living heading into Election Day.
Several last-ditch attempts to tackle affordability concerns were on display this week: Seven Republicans broke party ranks and voted to rebuke the war in Iran launched by President Donald Trump. Other GOP members unsuccessfully sought an 11th-hour vote on suspending the federal gas tax. And one of the final House votes of the week was on a bill designed to curb utility costs related to data centers.
Many Republicans acknowledged the economic headwinds they are facing with the Iran conflict pushing gas and diesel prices to record territory in some parts of the country — plus growing anxiety about AI infrastructure increasing electric bills and a new Fed interest rate hike weighing on borrowing costs.
Among them was Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who said in an interview he is expecting a “close” election and understands why many of his GOP colleagues wanted more action.
“This is about the time where people start paying attention,” he said. “And there’s only so much you can control.”
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) warned Friday that “you can’t deny what people feel.”
“We make a mistake if we go and say the fundamentals of the economy are great — and they really are,” he said. “But that doesn’t help if you can’t afford gas or you can’t afford groceries or you can’t afford a new house.”
House GOP leaders, however, have been caught in a pickle: They acknowledge that Americans are feeling economic pain but they have been hamstrung in acting on those concerns by their thin majority, internal policy divides and Trump’s insistence that “affordability” is a Democratic “hoax.”
Rather than make law this summer, they have had to instead make excuses — blaming the Senate, congressional Democrats and Trump’s predecessor — while insisting some progress on prices has been made.
“We’ve been working with the president to make life more affordable for working families, and we’re not finished,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a Thursday interview, calling the cost of living the “No. 1 issue in America.”
“There’s a lot more work to do, but … it’s easy to forget the mess that we inherited,” he continued. “As much as I’d like gas prices to be lower, they’re lower today than where they were at the peak under [President Joe Biden], and they’re going to get lower when Iran gets resolved.”
Speaker Mike Johnson said at a Wednesday news conference that Republicans are providing “answers” to the question of how to lower the costs of everyday goods.
“There are a lot of creative ideas,” he said. “Even this week, the Republicans are the ideas party, and we’re constantly coming up with new and innovative things to continue to work to bring down the cost of living and work on the affordability issue.”
Implementing those ideas, however, is another matter. A group of ultraconservative members led by Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland led the push to suspend the federal fuel tax — 18.4 cents per gallon of gas and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel — for the few months around Election Day.
“Enough is enough. Americans are paying more at the pump, and Washington shouldn’t be making it worse,” Harris said in a post on X.
Harris withheld his support on a key procedural vote to force a discussion around putting his bill on the floor, but it ran into opposition from fellow Republicans concerned about draining the main federal fund that finances highway projects. Many were also wary of exposing themselves to charges of hypocrisy: Some, including Harris, had previously opposed the idea under the Biden administration.
Later that day, seven Republicans voted for a Democratic resolution to rein in Trump’s authority over the conflict in Iran — three more than any previous Iran war powers vote. Two of them, Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, represent Iowa, where the agriculture industry has been hammered by spiking fuel prices.
“I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement after the vote. Later that day, another Iowan — Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate — announced she would not join Vice President JD Vance at an in-state rally Friday, citing a scheduling conflict.
The third new GOP vote on the Iran measure, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, also cited the “financial consequences” of the war in a CNN interview: “I voted my conscience.”
Mace, who is not returning to Congress next year after a failed bid for governor, was more blunt in comments to reporters at the Capitol, saying she believed the GOP would lose its majority in part due to the war.
“The midterms are going to be a fucking bloodbath,” she said.
GOP leaders did orchestrate an overwhelmingly bipartisan 417-3 vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act, which is aimed at ensuring data centers do not lead to higher overall utility costs — though many of its provisions are voluntary.
Still, Johnson touted its passage as a coup that would help voters feel some relief.
“Americans will not split the bill for the buildout of data centers or AI infrastructure anywhere in their communities,” Johnson said after the bill’s passage. “Notice how quiet Democrats are now that Republicans have taken action on all this.”
While almost every Democrat supported the bill, they are also calling it a fig leaf that is unlikely to materially improve the cost of living.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called it a “step forward” but that “more clearly needs to be done.” Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, blocked its swift passage in the Senate Thursday, calling for “real legislation with real teeth.”
“There are way stronger proposals, and I don’t really think that this one is going to come off as much of a win for the Republicans who are flailing to hold on,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in an interview.
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