The Department of Defense is seeking $200 billion in supplemental funding to help pay for the war with Iran.
The Pentagon request, first reported by The Washington Post Wednesday evening, has been shared with the White House, which is reportedly reviewing it before it is submitted formally to Congress. President Trump confirmed the request to reporters on Thursday.
At a news conference Thursday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the request, which is about four times larger than initial reports had forecast and many times larger than the very rough cost estimate of $20 billion for the war so far.
“Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said, “so we're going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that our ammunition is refilled, and not just refilled, but above and beyond."
Hegseth also said that the number could “move,” though it wasn’t clear if he meant it could be smaller or larger.
Meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Trump told reporters that the supplemental request is being made “for a lot of reasons,” including building up the military in ways that seem to extend beyond the immediate needs of the Iran war. “[I]t's a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top,” he said.
Trump has called for a massive increase in military spending in the next fiscal year, saying the defense budget should be $1.5 trillion, a roughly 50% increase.
Questions in Congress: Republican lawmakers were noncommittal as they discussed the request Thursday.
“It remains to be seen,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN about the outlook for the request. “And obviously we haven’t seen any of the specifics around it yet. Saw the aggregate number they’re proposing, but we’re going to need to, obviously, take a look at it.”
Republican Sen. Roger Marshall told Fox Business that the request is “a little tall.” Defense officials “need to come to … Capitol Hill and tell us what that money is going to be spent on,” he said. “I think we give the Pentagon a trillion dollars a year, you would think that would be enough, but we're going to have to do something.”
Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who leads the Appropriations Committee, said the request is “considerably higher than I would have guessed,” but added that she hasn’t seen the details.
Another Appropriations Committee member, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said she needs to see more engagement by the Trump administration on the war before approving any major requests. “You just can’t come up here with an invoice and say, you know, ‘pay this’ and expect to have great cooperation going forward,” she said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson did not rule out the sizeable request, though he said he expects to receive a “detailed and specified” formal request. “So we’ll look at that,” he said. “But obviously it’s a dangerous time in the world and we have to adequately fund defense, and we have a commitment to do that.”
Democrats have reservations: Some Democratic lawmakers left no ambiguity about their opposition to the request. “At the height of combat the Iraq War cost around $140 Billion per year,” Sen. Ruben Gallego said in a social media post. “If the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion they are asking for a long war. The answer is a simple no.”
Rep. Donald Beyer said the request reveals the Trump administration’s true priorities. “Donald Trump and Republicans enacted the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and SNAP because the nation simply ‘couldn’t afford’ them,” he said on social media. “Now, the Trump Administration is seeking $200 billion to pursue their illegal, poorly planned war of choice against Iran. Absolutely not.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper highlighted the nation’s budgetary constraints. “That’s money that we don’t have,” he said. “With that kind of money, we can fund universal pre-K in every state in this country. We can get to universal health care coverage. We could have free school meals for every child.”
At least one Democrat expressed doubt that such a large bill could pass. “I see no path for approval of spending of that magnitude,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal. “At minimum, we’ve had to see public hearings on it, and approval from Congress on the war itself.”
What’s next: The White House needs to formally submit a detailed request to Congress, and if the response from Democrats so far is any indication, it could be in for a rough ride. The Trump administration did not inform Congress about the war before it was launched and has not sought input on its conduct, so lawmakers may end up using the debate over supplemental funding to battle over the uses and abuses of the government’s war-making powers.