WASHINGTON — Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Iraq War combat veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, said in a post on X on Wednesday that the cost of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran is reaching far beyond the battlefield. She pointed to diesel prices that she said are up more than 75% and are raising the price of growing, shipping and delivering what Americans buy, and she called for the fighting to stop.
Duckworth published the post at 1:46 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, and attached an NBC News report on the final consumer price index release before the November midterm elections. Her post read in full:
“You don’t have to drive a diesel truck to feel the squeeze of Trump’s illegal war.
Diesel prices are up more than 75%, driving up the cost of growing your food, shipping your groceries and delivering everyday goods.
Americans can’t go on like this. It’s time to end the war.”
What the Inflation Data Show
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis in September, after a 0.4% increase in August. Over the past 12 months, the all-items index increased 3.7%, up from 3.4% for the 12 months ending in August. The gasoline index rose 9.1% in September and accounted for more than half of the monthly increase in the overall index.
The energy index climbed 5.2% in September after a 2.1% rise in August, and it is up 20.4% over the past year. The gasoline index alone has risen 34.2% over that period. The bureau’s figures were more mixed on groceries: the food index was unchanged in September, and the food-at-home index fell 0.1% for the month but is up 1.8% over 12 months. Airline fares are up 22.4% over the past year, and the index excluding food and energy is up 2.6%.
The report Duckworth attached said diesel, which farmers and truckers rely on, has risen more than 75% since the war began in late winter. Economists cited in the report said higher diesel costs trickle down into “just about everything.” It said agricultural states such as Kansas, Iowa and Texas have been hit especially hard, and that Democrats are outperforming in Senate races in all three, where their campaigns focus on the high cost of living.
The report also said wage growth was 3% as of September and has not outpaced inflation since March. It described the administration’s recent efforts to lower fuel costs as having made little difference so far. Those efforts include pressing Group of Seven allies to release more diesel stocks, an order allowing wider use of tax-free diesel, and a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin under which Russia would release some diesel supplies. Trump also eased some sanctions on Russia to facilitate that arrangement, a move that drew global backlash.
A Combat Veteran Who Has Opposed the War From the Start
Duckworth, a member of both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient. On Nov. 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, and she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm. She served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years before retiring in 2014 at the rank of lieutenant colonel, and she later served as an assistant secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Her opposition to the conflict dates to its first day. On Feb. 28, when the U.S. launched its campaign against Iran, Duckworth said Trump had acted without the congressional authorization the Constitution requires. She said she first ran for Congress so that when “the drums of war started beating again in Washington,” she would be in a position, “standing on the titanium legs I earned in a different unjustified war in the Middle East,” to make sure leaders weigh the true costs of their decisions. She urged the Senate to vote immediately on Sen. Tim Kaine’s War Powers Resolution.
In March, Duckworth joined a group of Democratic senators demanding public, sworn hearings with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. On the Senate floor on March 18, the 18th day of the war, she said it was costing taxpayers over $1 billion each day. She said 13 servicemembers were dead and more than 200 wounded, and she urged Republicans to support Sen. Cory Booker’s War Powers Resolution, which failed 47-53 that night.
The War Powers Votes
Duckworth then brought her own War Powers Resolution to the floor, saying the war was “costing American servicemember lives and driving up prices for millions of families.” Republicans blocked it 47-52 on April 15. She was part of a group known as the Senate Six, which also includes Booker, Kaine, Chris Murphy, Adam Schiff and Tammy Baldwin, who forced repeated votes on resolutions to end hostilities. On Day 60 of the war, the point at which the War Powers Act’s clock runs out, Duckworth said Republicans were “wrongly claiming that Trump has 60 days to seek authorization,” adding that even “that fake deadline is looming.”
At a May 14 Armed Services Committee hearing, Duckworth pressed Adm. Cooper on the administration’s desired end state and warned: “If we don’t know what we’re fighting for, we certainly don’t know how long we’ll be fighting.” Days later, at a press conference with the veterans group VoteVets, she said: “Trump started a war, and he’s made things worse than before.” That event came a day after the Senate voted 50-47 to take up a war powers resolution, with four Republicans joining Democrats after seven earlier attempts had failed.
On June 23, on the Senate’s tenth war powers vote of the year, a concurrent resolution directing the president to remove forces from the conflict passed 50-48. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul joined Democrats, and the House had approved the measure 215-208 earlier that month. A White House official said the resolution “has no significance” and that concurrent resolutions “have no force of law.” Duckworth said the war “should’ve never happened,” adding that it “killed 14 servicemembers, burned through at least $35 billion, drove costs through the roof and emboldened our adversaries.”
Prices Have Been Central to Her Argument
Duckworth has linked the war to household costs for months. After Trump announced a ceasefire earlier this year, she said that before the war “the Strait of Hormuz was open and violence free, gas was $1 cheaper and thousands more people were alive—including 13 American servicemembers.” She said Americans “can barely afford gas, groceries and child care here at home.” In another statement, she criticized Senate Republicans for giving Trump “the green light to plunge our nation even deeper into his war of choice,” saying the war was “further endangering our troops abroad and surging prices at home.”
Trump has acknowledged the inflation but has said the war will end it. Reuters reported in June that after consumer prices showed their fastest annual pace in three years, Trump told reporters, “I love the inflation,” and said prices would fall once the war ends. He later said the remark was taken out of context. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the war could add about 0.5 percentage points to inflation in the first quarter of 2027, and that it had cost the Pentagon about $38 billion as of Aug. 1.
Where the War and the Politics Stand
The fighting has not ended. On Oct. 6, Trump said he had agreed to continue talks with Iran at the request of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other countries. He said reopening the Strait of Hormuz could come “literally by tomorrow,” while denuclearization could “take a little while.” Iran says its talks are with Oman over passage through the strait. Before the war, ships passed freely, but Iran now insists on retaining control and charging fees, which the United States rejects.
The inflation data arrives as early voting begins, with Republicans defending narrow majorities in the House and Senate. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates once this year, and the attached report said another hike is expected in December and could come as early as the Oct. 27-28 meeting if inflation runs hot. The next CPI release, scheduled for Nov. 10, falls after Election Day. On the prediction market Polymarket, the odds of Democrats winning the House stand at 91%.