Trump Admin May Slash Iran War Funding Request

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By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

The ceasefire announced last night between the United States and Iran is quickly showing itself to be quite fragile, as Israel continued its military operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Tehran accused the United States of violating its end of the deal. Iran also reportedly continued its strikes on Gulf states while still blocking traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Here's your evening update.

Trump Admin May Slash Iran War Funding Request: Report

The Pentagon told the White House last month that it wants more than $200 billion in supplemental funding to help pay for the war with Iran and related defense needs, but the Trump administration is now expected to request less than half that amount.

The Washington Post's Noah Robertson and Riley Beggin reported Tuesday that the White House plans to request between $80 billion and $100 billion in supplemental funding when it sends its proposal to Congress.

The reduction is driven in large part by the Trump administration's recent request for $1.5 trillion in defense spending for fiscal year 2027. Some of those funds for 2027 would be directed toward the same areas as the Iran war request, covering not just the cost of replacing arms used in the Middle East but also investments in the defense-industrial base. As laid out in President Trump's budget request, the White House is calling on Congress to pass a party-line reconciliation bill later this year that would provide $350 billion in fiscal year 2027 (which starts in October) to enhance defense manufacturing capabilities and build up stockpiles of arms and munitions.

The smaller supplemental request of $80 billion to $100 billion would focus on costs directly associated with the war, including the cost of sending equipment and thousands of service members to the Middle East, rebuilding damaged and destroyed equipment and speeding the production of munitions expended in attacks against Iran.

A political battle: Some lawmakers have indicated that they want to examine any supplemental request very carefully, and it could be difficult for the administration to gain support for massively higher spending on a historically unpopular war.

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said in March that she did not support the idea of sending another $200 billion to the Pentagon. "I've already told leadership, 'I am a no on any war supplementals,'" Boebert said. "I am so tired of spending money elsewhere. I am tired of the industrial war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can't afford to live."

Democrats see any funding request as an opportunity for Congress to investigate the Trump administration's conduct of the war, given that Republicans have refused to hold public hearings with administration officials. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons told the Post that the war was costing more than $1 billion a day, putting the total cost so far above $40 billion. He said in March that he wants administration officials to testify so "the American people can get questions answered about the failures in planning that led to some of the challenges, losses and mistakes in this war."

What comes next: The administration aims to have Congress pass the Iran supplemental funding bill before lawmakers leave town in August for their summer break, officials told Robertson and Beggin. Then lawmakers will turn to the budget process for fiscal year 2027, with the Pentagon receiving funding through two separate bills.

Quote of the Day

"Doing it through reconciliation requires no compromise with the other party. ... If that becomes the sole way that we fund core functions of government that is a bad idea."

  • Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate's defense appropriations subcommittee, as quoted by Punchbowl News in an item about congressional appropriators "seething" at the prospect that Republicans will pursue two partisan budget reconciliation bills this year, yanking more responsibility for spending decisions away from the panels that traditionally have been Capitol Hill power centers.

"Appropriators are on the verge of ceding more of their power to the leadership, as Republicans eye funding for ICE, CBP and the Pentagon through party-line reconciliation bills in the coming months," Punchbowl's team writes. "In reconciliation, authorizing committees with jurisdiction over Department of Homeland Security agencies will get the pen instead of the spending panels."

Number of the Day: $1.4 Billion

Some of the top U.S. oil executives cashed in as President Trump's war in Iran spiked oil and gas prices, according to The Wall Street Journal. Executives sold $1.4 billion worth of stock in the first quarter of the year, the Journal says, as shares of Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Diamondback Energy and other companies jumped due to the oil shock spurred by the war.

"Some of the sales were prearranged under plans that allow executives to sell stock automatically at specific times or share prices without making in-the-moment decisions that could leave them open to allegations of improper trading," the Journal noted. "The plans are often set weeks or months in advance, though the specifics are rarely public. Nonetheless, the executives' timing was auspicious." Sales reached a 15-year high.

Chevron CEO reportedly sold about $104 million worth of stock between January and March, while Ryan Lance, the chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, sold more than $54 million worth of shares just last month.

Tuesday's announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the war led to a plunge in oil prices on Wednesday, with U.S. crude oil futures falling more than 16%, their biggest one-day drop since April 2020. Benchmark Brent crude futures fell about 13% to $94.75 a barrel.

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