Ranking Member Markey Demands Full Transparency About the Cost of Trump’s Illegal Iran War

Sources project gas prices will skyrocket to $4 per gallon as Trump's illegal war continues

Letter (PDF)

(Washington, March 9) - Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today sent a letter to Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) William Wiatrowski demanding full transparency about the economic costs of Trump's illegal war with Iran and how the war will harm American consumers. In the letter, Ranking Member Markey highlighted the economic shock that consumers are already facing, with gas prices rising in Massachusetts by an average of 20 cents per gallon in the first week of Trump's war, and energy analysts predicting a climb to $4 per gallon or higher nationally as the war continues. Ranking Member Markey urges BLS to provide non-partisan and accurate evidence of the economic consequences of Trump's illegal war in Iran, regardless of political pressure from the Administration.

Ranking Member Markey wrote, "President Trump's reckless, aimless, and illegal war with Iran is driving our nation into yet another self-inflicted energy and inflation crisis. American consumers should not be subjected to shakedowns every time they fill up their cars, just to pay for Donald Trump's Middle Eastern crusade. Unfortunately, at this moment we are flying blind. The President has neglected to provide coherent or consistent explanations for the scope and goals of his war, either to the Congress or the American people, and we have similarly received no information from the Administration on the conflict's expected duration or anticipated costs."

Ranking Member Markey continued, "Since U.S.-Israeli strikes started on February 28, 2026, American families and small businesses have already begun to feel the consequences at the pump, in the grocery aisle, and their utility bills. Energy costs impact virtually every economic sector, and as the disruption to global energy markets accelerates, the American people deserve rigorous, accountable projections to understand what lies ahead. BLS has historically provided nonpartisan statistical economic analyses, and I call on you to do so without delay."

Ranking Member Markey requested answers to the following questions by Tuesday, March 24, 2026:

1. Please provide updated projections for consumer price changes in the energy sector - including gasoline, home heating fuel, and electricity - over the next six to twelve months. In these projections, please assess the effect of military-related disruption to production, assuming that current levels of disruption to oil and LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz continue.
2. Please provide updated projections for consumer food price changes over the next six to twelve months, taking into account higher energy and transportation costs, disruptions to fertilizer supply chains linked to elevated natural gas prices, and any anticipated import or export disruptions.
3. Please provide updated projections for consumer prices for goods more broadly - including household products, apparel, and durable goods - given anticipated supply chain disruptions, increased shipping costs, and higher energy input costs.
4. What methodology is BLS using to model the consumer price impacts of geopolitical energy supply disruptions?
5. 1. How does BLS's current modeling account for the specific characteristics of the Iran conflict, including potential prolonged disruption to the Strait of Hormuz?
   2. Does this methodology take into account various projected durations of the conflict?

Ranking Member Markey has fought hard to protect small businesses, consumers, and families from rising costs as a result of the Trump administration's reckless economic policies.

• Last week, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to Trump administration officials renewing his call for a tariff refund process and demanding an investigation into reports that Wall Street traders are taking advantage of Main Street by paying America's small businesses pennies on the dollar for tariff rebates in the absence of an official refund process.
• In February, Ranking Member Markey introduced the Tariff Refund Act of 2026 with Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) to require full refunds of Trump's illegal tariffs after they were struck down by the Supreme Court.
• Earlier in February, Ranking Member Markey released a report detailing how Trump's affordability crisis, including his devastating tariffs, are hurting Main Streets and working families across America.
• In December, Ranking Member Markey held a press conference on the affordability crisis facing American small businesses and released new state-by-state data on total tariffs paid by small businesses from March to September 2025.
• In November, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Acting Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) Pierre Yared to renew his call for an equitable tariff refund process for small businesses.
• Earlier in November, Ranking Member Markey held a press conference to highlight the voices of small business owners impacted by Trump's devastating tariffs, and to call on the Supreme Court to strike down the tariffs.
• Previously, Ranking Member Markey held a press conference to highlight the voices of small business owners impacted by Trump's tariffs. Ranking Member Markey introduced the Small Business RELIEF Act in September 2025, which exempts small businesses from the "Liberation Day" tariffs and requires the President to provide refunds to small businesses who have paid them.
• In August, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and CEA Chair Stephen Miran, calling on their respective agencies to establish and publicize procedures for refunding tariffs to American businesses.
• In May, Ranking Member Markey first attempted to pass the Small Business Liberation Act, legislation that would exempt small businesses from the broad, reckless global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Ranking Member Markey returned to the Senate floor in an effort to pass the Small Business Liberation Act in August. Republicans blocked his legislation on the Senate floor on both occasions.

Permalink: https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2026/3/ranking-member-markey-demands-full-transparency-about-the-cost-of-trump-s-illegal-iran-war