U.S. Senator Warns Taxpayers: “That Extra $45 Billion You Paid Is Just the Appetizer”

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) responded sharply to a Wall Street Journal article titled, ‘The Oil Shock Is Causing a $45 Billion Rupture in the Economy,” with the subtitle, “A wartime surge in energy prices is slamming consumers while boosting investors, widening a divide in the U.S. economy.”

[NOTE: According to the WSJ report, and based on OPIS pricing data, “eleven weeks into the war with Iran, Americans have cumulatively spent about $45 billion more on the fuels than they did in the same period in 2025.”]

Whitehouse responded: “That extra $45 billion you paid is just the appetizer; the real feast is nearly a quarter-trillion dollars of excess Big Oil profit coming out of your pockets over the rest of this year.”

The Rhode Island Senator added: “Yes, a quarter-trillion dollars from your pockets to theirs — you still don’t think this is on purpose?” and “While you’re at it, look at your electric bill, hiked by Republicans blocking low-cost clean energy. Your bill goes up (the total is in the billions) and the extra you pay goes to fossil fuel units that wouldn’t even be running if the low-cost energy was on the grid.”

Whitehouse is working with fellow Rhode Islander Democrats, U.S. Reps. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo, on legislation designed “to crack down on profiteering as Trump’s unnecessary war with Iran drives up prices at the pump.”