The energy affordability crisis caused by the Iran war and electricity-hungry data centers has now risen, like prices, to near the top of Americans’ political concerns. With hard-pressed consumers looking for answers, Democratic lawmakers have the opportunity to reset policy toward new low-cost technologies that can reduce costs and limit America’s chronic vulnerability to oil and electricity shocks.

Since President Donald Trump began attacking Iran on Feb. 28, gasoline prices have spiked, on average, by more than $1 a gallon, with the average U.S. household due to pay an additional $740 for gasoline in 2026 alone.

Seemingly tone-deaf to suffering consumers, Trump even claimed that high oil prices are not so bad because “when oil prices go up,” U.S. oil companies “make a lot of money."

But Trump’s oil-obsessed policies are inherently flawed because oil prices are determined on the global market, not here at home. Oil supply disruptions anywhere, especially in the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz, end up costing American drivers at the pump, despite large U.S. oil production.

Culture wars short-circuited progress on renewable energy

Democrats in Congress tried to put the United States on a stronger footing a few years ago by incentivizing electric vehicles, charging stations, renewable energy and other domestic........

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