Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg told lawmakers last week that the Pentagon is eyeing an $80 billion supplemental request to cover the cost of the war against Iran as well as other expenses, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
In mid-May, the Pentagon’s acting comptroller told a House committee that the war had cost about $29 billion up to that point. The total has risen since then, but the Pentagon has refrained from providing an up-to-date cost estimate, much to the frustration of some lawmakers.
The requested funds would go toward fleet operations, munitions and personnel, as well as other uses, the Journal said. Pentagon officials have warned that the Iran war has forced the military to shift funds to support the operation, putting a strain on training and other ongoing needs. Rep. Tom Cole, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in May that the Pentagon could run out of money for the Iran operation this summer, “probably in August.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to give a classified briefing to the Republican Study Committee in the House on Wednesday, and the supplemental request is expected to be on the agenda. President Trump has discussed a much larger supplemental request of $350 billion, which Republicans are considering as part of plans for a partisan reconciliation package, though there are questions about the viability of such an approach.
Sen. Chris Murphy, who sits on the appropriations committee, told the Journal that a supplemental funding bill for the Pentagon has little chance of passing on a bipartisan basis. “There are not 60 votes in the Senate for a supplemental,” he said last week. “I think that’s a pretty true statement that’s not going to change anytime soon. They have made no effort to keep Congress in the loop, and they know that the war is wildly unpopular.”