- Bost & Iran War
Bost Backs Trump's Iran War While IL-12 Pumps Hit $4.97
Our congressman voted three times to keep the conflict going. He has nothing to say about what it's costing his constituents at the gas pump.
·Issue No. 9
If you filled up in Marion or Carbondale last week, you paid $4.97 a gallon. A month ago, the same pump was $4.29. The difference? Trump's Iran war, which began February 28, and Rep. Mike Bost's consistent votes to keep it going.
On March 5, April 16, and May 14, Bost voted Nay on every House resolution to require a war powers vote or constrain Trump's authority in Iran. He has spoken publicly in favor of the strikes. And he has said nothing to his constituents about the price spike now hitting their wallets.
The Record
- March 5: Roll Call 85 (H. Con. Res. 38) — Bost votes Nay. Resolution fails 212-219.
- April 16: Roll Call 114 (H. Con. Res. 40) — Bost votes Nay. Resolution fails 213-214.
- May 14: Roll Call 170 (H. Con. Res. 75) — Bost votes Nay. Resolution fails 212-212 (tie).
- March 6: Bost tells the Effingham Daily News: "I don't know why it took five presidents to finally decide enough is enough."
- 2026 press releases on Iran or gas prices: None found on bost.house.gov.
Only three Republicans in the entire House—Massie (KY), Fitzpatrick (PA), and Barrett (MI)—voted to constrain Trump's war. Bost was not among them.
What This Means
Bost supports the war that is driving gas prices. The International Energy Agency called the Iran conflict "the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market." The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz—enforced by Trump's military—has tightened global oil supply and spiked prices everywhere.
National average: $2.96 per gallon on February 26. Today: $4.55. That is a 54 percent increase in three months.
Illinois statewide: $3.41 a year ago. Today: $5.03. Up 48 percent.
Southern Illinois (Carbondale-Marion): $4.29 on April 7. $4.97 on May 7. A fifteen-gallon fill-up that cost $44.55 two months ago now costs $74.85. That is an extra $30 per tank, every time.
As the President continues to exert maximum leverage over Iran with the ongoing successful blockade to bring this conflict to an end, we will see global energy markets stabilize and gas prices plummet back to the multi-year lows Americans enjoyed prior to the start of Operation Epic Fury.
Even the White House admits it: the blockade is the problem. And Bost voted to keep the blockade going.
The Bigger Picture
On March 30, during Holy Week, clergy from Carbondale gathered at Bost's Murphysboro district office to protest the war. Rev. Karen Knodt of First Christian Church (Carbondale) led the vigil. Bost's staff brought them water and ice cream.
That was the public acknowledgment. There has been no press release. No floor statement. No statement to constituents about the economic cost of a war Bost himself supports.
Three House Republicans—one from Kentucky, one from Pennsylvania, one from Michigan—have now voted to constrain Trump on Iran. Not Bost. Not once.
What This Means for IL-12
A household driving 1,000 miles per month in a 25-mile-per-gallon vehicle is spending $60 to $120 more per month on fuel than it was before the Iran war began. Multiply that by every family in southern Illinois. That is money not spent on groceries, rent, or medicine.
Bost voted three times to keep Trump's war going. He has no public comment on what that war is costing you.