Proposed diesel export ban pits GOP senators against each other

Senate Republicans are clashing over a proposal endorsed by Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and other farm-state Republicans to embargo the export of diesel to increase supply and lower prices at home, something U.S. leaders last implemented during the 1970s energy crisis. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is open to the idea, but oil-state Republicans have slammed the proposal as a “gimmick.” The soaring cost of diesel is putting political pressure on Republicans in farm states such as Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, where Democrats now have a chance to win Senate seats that weren’t viewed as competitive a year ago....