Warren, Whitehouse Slam Big Oil’s Massive Windfall Profits as Americans Face Skyrocketing Gas Prices

Warren, Whitehouse Slam Big Oil's Massive Windfall Profits as Americans Face Skyrocketing Gas Prices

At $100 per barrel of oil, total industry windfall profits could reach $234 billion by the end of 2026

Gas prices up by as much as 52 percent since Trump started Iran War

"The pattern is consistent: while Americans suffer from high prices and the Iran War imposes tens of billions of dollars of new costs on the American public, the oil industry wins big."

Text of Letters (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), pressed major fossil fuel companies on their windfall profits and skyrocketing gas prices as a result of President Trump's war in Iran, hurting American consumers.

The senators wrote to ExxonMobil Corporation, Chevron Corporation, Shell USA, Inc., bp America, Inc., ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and Continental Resources, Inc.

Following Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the global oil supply drastically decreasing, gas prices spiked, allowing oil and gas companies to rake in over $40 billion in profit in the first quarter of 2026. At $100 per barrel of oil, total industry windfall profits could reach $234 billion by year's end.

As gas prices rose following the Iran strikes, President Trump doubled down: "The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money." President Trump made the calculus explicit in his own words; when it comes to families facing increasing prices in the context of the Iran War, Trump stated, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation."

"The oil industry delivered these 'strong results' during a time of 'unprecedented disruption in global energy markets'-these are the industry's own words-while American families paid more at the pump. The average price of gasoline is now $4.16 per gallon, up from $2.98 before the war began… Higher fuel costs also ripple into higher grocery, utility, aviation, and other prices across the broader economy," wrote the senators.

"The opportunity to profit from high oil prices did not occur in a political vacuum," continued the senators.

In April 2024, then-candidate Trump solicited $1 billion from fossil fuel executives while at a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago, promising to roll back environmental regulations, issue desired permits, and expand drilling opportunities.

Then, earlier this year, President Trump ordered the U.S. military to capture Venezuelan regime leader Nicolás Maduro. This has provided new opportunities for U.S. oil companies, like Chevron's major expansion of oil operations in the country.

The senators are calling on oil companies to reveal their windfall profits and pricing decisions, involvement in the Trump campaign's 2024 quid pro quo arrangement, and communications with the Trump Administration regarding Iran.

Senator Warren has led efforts to implement gun violence prevention reforms and hold agencies accountable for their handling of firearms sales:

• On March 5, 2026, Senator Warren reintroduced the Stop Militarizing Our Streets Act to prohibit defense contractors and U.S. military-owned manufacturing plants from selling military-grade assault weapons and ammunition to civilians.

• On October 27, 2025, Senator Warren led 50+ members of Congress in pressing the Department of Commerce and the Department of State for answers about the elimination of a rule that was stemming the export of dangerous weapons to cartels and criminal organizations around the world.

• On October 24, 2024, Senator Warren led members of Congress in pressing the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requesting that the ATF ramp up its work to mitigate the influx of illegal firearms from other states to Massachusetts.

• On September 27, 2024, Senator Warren led members of Congress in putting pressure on the Departments of State (State), Homeland Security (DHS), Commerce (Commerce), and Justice (DOJ), urging them to strengthen steps to prevent the flow of illegal firearms from the United States into Haiti.

• On August 7, 2024, Senator Warren led the first introduction of the Stop Militarizing Our Streets Act to stop military-grade assault weapons and ammunition from finding their way onto our streets.

• On July 15, 2024, Senators Warren, Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Representatives Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) sent a letter to the Department of Defense calling on them to stop subsidizing the sale of military-grade weapons to civilians.

• On May 15, 2024, Senator Warren and Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) sent a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai, writing in support of USTR's decision to remove the designation of import license requirements for explosives, firearms, and ammunition as trade barriers in the annual National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, while also criticizing the Department of Commerce's inadequate steps to address assault weapons exports.

• On January 24, 2024, Senator Warren and Senator Durbin (D-Ill.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Representatives Castro and Norma Torres (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, calling on the Department of Commerce to incorporate a set of recommendations from the lawmakers to strengthen export controls and end-use checks for firearm exports to crack down on the unnecessary export of lethal weapons used in brutal killings abroad.

• In December 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Dean led lawmakers in a letter to American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, requesting that they explain why their companies have paused the implementation of a new Merchant Category Code (MCC) for gun and ammunition retailers that could help flag suspicious firearm purchases and prevent gun violence, gun trafficking, and domestic terrorism.

• In December 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) reintroduced the Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act, a comprehensive bill that would implement bold and robust measures including creating a federal gun licensing system, strengthening background checks, banning military-style assault weapons and other lethal accessories, holding the gun industry accountable for wrongdoing, and investing in research and community-based gun violence prevention.

• In November 2023, Senator Warren and Representative Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) sent a letter to six major financial institutions calling on them to provide critical information on their efforts to end their financial investments in the gun industry.

• In September 2023, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Representative Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) led 68 lawmakers in a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to take further executive action to combat gun violence and limit the sale of assault weapons, including to leverage the federal government's purchasing power to improve public safety.

• In March 2023, Senators Warren and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), urging the departments to issue guidance to financial institutions for the full implementation of the MCC that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved in 2022 for gun and ammunition stores.

• In September 2022, Senators Warren and Murphy (D-Conn.) and Representatives Castro and Torres sent a letter to Secretary Raimondo, calling out Commerce for its increased approvals of export licenses for assault weapons and high-capacity magazine exports, and for putting the gun industry profits before national security and human lives. The lawmakers called on Commerce to revise its approach to assault weapons exports and to answer questions about its export license approvals.

• In September 2022, Senator Warren and Representative Dean sent letters to the CEOs of MasterCard, American Express, and Visa urging them to support the creation of a new MCC for gun and ammunition retailers and to request information about their reported opposition to Amalgamated Bank's application for such a code.

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