When I speak at community events, I often ask people a simple question: Raise your hand if the basic necessities of life feel increasingly out of reach, or if your family budget is being stretched so thin that you are not sure how much more it can take. More and more hands go up.
For many Maine families, we rely on the gasoline that gets us to work, school, grocery store and the doctor’s office. Heating oil gets us through the winter.
Maine is, after all, the place where we joke that “you can’t get there from here.” Our rugged coastline, rural communities and vast geography mean many Mainers have little choice but to drive long distances. Right now, diesel is averaging more than $6 a gallon in Maine, while regular gas is hovering well above $4 a gallon, turning every commute into a bigger expense. And in one of the most heating-oil-dependent states in the country, the cost of energy quickly becomes the cost of simply living here.
Right now, those costs are rising faster than ever. As of Sept. 8, the average price of heating oil in Maine was $5.39 per gallon, according to the Maine Department of Energy Resources. Oil prices have also surged amid the continuing war with Iran, with Brent crude climbing above $100 per barrel and U.S. crude above $100 last week as attacks and threats to energy infrastructure have disrupted global markets.
The war began more than six months ago. This week, President Donald Trump acknowledged that oil prices that have risen amid the conflict may not come down until after the November elections. Earlier this year, when a reporter asked the president how much Americans’ financial situations were motivating him to reach a deal with Iran, his answer was: “Not even a little bit.”
The administration has consistently argued that preventing a nuclear-armed Iran is essential to American security and that allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon could ultimately create even greater instability in global energy markets.
But whatever your view of that argument is, there is no escaping the economic consequences that the conflict is having here at home. And Iran is not the only place where decisions in Washington are colliding with Maine’s economy.
The trade dispute with Canada, Maine’s largest trading partner, is also escalating. This summer, the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods, arguing that Canada’s trade policies discriminate against American commerce. Canada retaliated this week with new tariffs on roughly $20 billion in U.S. exports, including steel, dairy and agricultural equipment. President Trump responded the same day by expanding the products covered by the 50% tariffs and announcing plans to ban imports of certain Canadian goods later this month.
For Maine, this is not a distant fight between two national governments. Canada accounts for an enormous share of our international trade, and the consequences reach industries and communities across our state. Maine officials have warned that Canada’s retaliatory tariffs will affect goods representing roughly $170 million in Maine exports, while the broader dispute is already affecting costs and supply chains here at home.
Here in the Legislature, our responsibility is narrower. We cannot control the price of a barrel of oil. We cannot negotiate peace agreements or international trade policy. What we can do is focus relentlessly on the costs that are within our control and look for ways to put money back into the pockets of Maine people.
That work becomes even more important and challenging when forces outside the state are pushing in the opposite direction.
But there is a larger lesson here about governing. When people say they cannot afford another increase at the grocery store, another expensive tank of gas or another winter of staggering heating bills, they mean it. Their concerns cannot become secondary to the political debate happening in Washington because they are the debate.
For a family trying to decide whether there is enough money left after rent to fill the oil tank, something inherently geopolitical turns into something very local and deeply personal. It becomes the number on the gas pump or the heating bill on the kitchen table. It results in the price of groceries exponentially increasing, and it becomes a basic question that every person entrusted with public office should be asking: How much more can American families afford to take?
Mattie Daughtry represents state Senate District 23, Brunswick, Chebeague Island, Freeport, Harpswell, Pownal and part of Yarmouth in the Maine Senate. She also serves as Maine’s Senate president. She can be reached at [email protected] or 207-287-1515.