Five Ways Republicans Can Bring Down Gas Prices and Reclaim the ‘Affordability’ Mantle

W ith the midterms coming up, Democrats are focused on high gas prices, which they blame on the Iran conflict. President Trump and congressional Republicans can defuse that attack, earn major political capital, and advance American interests by slashing “green” bureaucratic red tape to bring down the price of gasoline.

Removing, reforming, or temporarily suspending red tape and taxes that stem from Democratic-led states’ onerous environmental policies would increase domestic supply and reduce compliance costs, exerting downward pressure on prices. A simple glance at the American Automobile Association’s state gas price averages proves this true, as low-regulation red states have lower prices (the average price for a gallon of gas in Oklahoma hovers around $3.96 per gallon), while the country’s most expensive gas is in deep-blue and heavily regulated California, at $6.16 per gallon. The ten states with the lowest gasoline prices are all ruby red, largely because many blue states charge a variety of special taxes and fees that often go to blue state budgets or environmentalist programs.

To curb these ever-rising costs, the federal government ought to take five steps to cut regulations that are keeping pump prices high:

1. The first and fastest way to lower gas prices would be a simple gas tax holiday. It’s easy to see the difference this would make right away: Mississippi imposes one of the nation’s lowest gas taxes at 21 cents per gallon (and has one of the lowest average costs for a gallon of gas among states), compared with California’s highest-in-the-nation rate of roughly 71 cents per gallon, according to the Tax Foundation. California’s aggressive California Air Resources Board rules require a unique, “boutique” gasoline blend far stricter than federal EPA standards and a cap-and-trade program that adds an estimated 54 cents per gallon in compliance. Mississippi, by contrast, adheres only to baseline federal requirements with no state-specific fuel mandates, carbon pricing, or low-carbon standards, allowing cheaper production and greater supply flexibility. These policy choices — lower taxes and lighter regulations in Republican-led red states versus the heavy environmental and revenue-focused mandates in Democratic-led blue states — explain why this price gap has persisted for decades. Not only could the federal government pause its 18 cents per gallon tax, but a bill introduced this year would withhold federal funding to states with high gasoline taxes.
2. The EPA ought to grant more small-refinery exemptions by extending Ethanol 15 summer waivers — already issued nationwide in March 2026 through at least May 20 — to the Renewable Fuel Standard. This U.S. federal program requires transportation fuel to contain minimum volumes of ethanol or biodiesel. This practice has consumed almost half of America’s corn for over a decade, and the policy has clearly proven an expensive failure, with the Government Accountability Office concluding almost a decade ago that the policy didn’t reduce American dependence on foreign oil or lower carbon dioxide emissions.
3. Additional reconsiderations or stays on any remaining Biden-era provisions should be finalized — beyond the April 2026 final rule that already saved around $2.5 billion over 15 years by loosening monitoring requirements. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin could immediately issue additional guidance for more operator flexibility on methane regulations implemented during the Biden era, saving billions more dollars in the long term in compliance costs and bringing prices down today. Congress could also codify permanent standardization.
4. The Obama-era tier 3 gasoline sulfur “standards” — previously enacted by unilateral executive authority and administrative rulemaking, not new congressional legislation — ought to be revoked. These standards offer minimal air quality gains while raising prices. Ironically, compliance increased America’s greenhouse gas emissions, the nominal goal of the policy, by forcing unnecessary extra fuel refining. Analysis by the Institute for Energy Research suggests that revoking these standards would take up to 10 cents off the price of a gallon of gas.
5. Lastly, barriers to energy production should be removed. This could be done in two steps. First, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews can be limited; this would do away with associated permitting delays for energy infrastructure, which drive up prices. NEPA requires extensive environmental impact statements for federal approvals on oil and gas drilling, pipelines, terminals, refinery expansions, and leasing. As I previously wrote, reviews often take more than four years — sometimes a decade — with frequent litigation. Both political parties have discussed permitting reform, as delays affect all energy projects but hit oil and gas hardest. President Trump could further direct federal agencies to streamline their NEPA compliance process by expanding “emergency permitting procedures,” reducing that lengthy timeline from years to 28 days, with default approval beyond that. Congressional legislation on this subject cleared the House in April and likely has enough support in the Senate during this crisis. Quickly sending it to President Trump’s desk would sharply cut energy prices due to the futures market. This would put Democrats in the brutal political position of allowing passage or having to filibuster a measure that would drive down energy prices at a time of near-record highs.The second step would be ordering the Department of the Interior to accelerate energy lease sales while approving pending permits under reformed emergency procedures restored by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This could create the legal certainty needed for new energy production on federal land and water. An April 2026 Bureau of Land Management rule update to accelerate energy leases on federal land is a good first step. The resulting long-term supply increase would take a few months to hit pump prices, but the signal of new production on the mostly untapped vast swaths of America owned by the federal government would bring down prices.

Democrats’ “affordability” messaging has proven key to their recent electoral successes, and lowering costs is the best Republican response. President Trump can achieve a huge political win and crimp the Democrats’ midterm strategy by slashing the green red tape holding back American energy.