Hegseth Says Iran War Cost $37.5 Billion So Far

Pete Hegseth
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Good evening. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced bipartisan anger today as senators pressed for answers about the Iran war, the Trump administration's strategy for the conflict and a presidential request for nearly $88 billion in extra defense funding. Here's what you should know tonight.

Hegseth Says Iran War Has Cost $37.5 Billion So Far

Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the war with Iran has cost an estimated $37.5 billion so far, though he provided few details explaining the Pentagon's assessment. Some independent analysts have said the price tag is likely considerably higher.

Accompanied by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Hegseth was testifying in support of the Trump administration's $87.6 billion supplemental funding request, which includes $67.1 billion for the Pentagon to help cover the cost of the war against Iran.

The funding request comes amid a renewal of intense bombing of targets in Iran by the United States, as well as Iranian attacks against U.S. facilities in the Middle East that have claimed the lives of several U.S. service members in recent days. The U.S. military death toll from the war has risen to 17.

Hegseth said the funding request is "urgent" as the country continues to fight Iran. "Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption," he said.

Hegseth's comments echo a Washington Post report Tuesday that the Pentagon is facing a budget shortfall due to the war that is already impinging on training and maintenance activities.

Questioning the request: Sen. Patty Murray, the senior Democrat on the committee, asked whether a funding emergency really exists, given that the Pentagon still has billions of dollars left over from last year's Republican reconciliation bill, which delivered an extra $150 billion for the military, half of which remains unspent. In total, Congress provided about $1 trillion for defense. "The problem is not a lack of money, but poor planning," Murray said. "So I'll be blunt. The truth is, your request does not make a lot of sense."

Murray added that the current supplemental request "is chock full of asks to fund unrelated DOD priorities which should be considered through our annual appropriations process, not in an emergency supplemental" supposedly focused on Iran war costs. Those unrelated activities include nearly $1 billion to cover the cost of deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and more than $1 billion for border security.

"Understand, you may have mismanaged your budget, Secretary Hegseth, but you have to do your due diligence to fix the cash flow problems you've caused before asking the taxpayers for more," Murray said.

Hegseth confirmed that his department is sitting on roughly $75 billion in unspent funds, but said that money is needed for other purposes, including rebuilding the military and creating the weapons of the future, such as the Golden Dome missile defense system. He said that 95% of the leftover funding would be allocated by the end of September. He also blamed former President Biden for neglecting the military and said the added funding was needed to correct the mistakes made during the previous administration.

Hegseth then pivoted to defending the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion budget request for defense in fiscal year 2027. Given "the world that we live in" and "the disaster of what the Biden administration budgets gave us," it's clear, Hegseth said, that the Pentagon needs the full amount requested.

"Not funding this department at the full $1.5 trillion, I believe, is the greatest threat this nation faces," Hegseth said.

Questioning the war: Sen. Jack Reed, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, asked Hegseth if he warned President Trump that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a war, an outcome that has caused economic turmoil all over the world.

"Of course, the Strait of Hormuz was front and center in every single aspect of that," Hegseth said before discussing the destruction of much of Iran's navy - a discussion that concluded with more complaints about Trump's predecessor. "We had U.S. boats that surrendered to Iranian ships under the Biden administration," Hegseth said.

Reed cut him off, saying, "Listen, we're talking about the war you started," and noting that oil was flowing freely through the strait before Trump began bombing Iran in late February. "There was no conflict," Reed said. "We weren't losing personnel as a result of Iranian actions. So your fallback to the Biden administration is just a very, very obvious excuse for what I think is probably - as you described so often - gross negligence."

Hegseth said the recent attacks by Iran are just "all the more reason why President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get for undertaking this effort, having the courage to ensure that crazy Islamists can't have a nuclear weapon."

Reed replied: "Excuse me. So he should be praised for starting a war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously? We have to have extra money for our farmers, and we have no outcome - at least no realistic outcome - in sight yet."

House Republicans Clear Key Hurdle as They Race to Pass Agenda

Speaker Mike Johnson secured a win Tuesday in his race to have the House pass several major bills by the end of the week. The House voted 214-211 to advance the bills, including the budget resolution paving the way for the GOP's $95 billion "Reconciliation 3.0" package, a defense policy bill for 2027 and a stopgap measure to fund the government into December.

As part of the vote, the House also agreed to merge the SAVE America Act - the voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill that President Trump has demanded - with the annual defense policy bill before it gets sent to the Senate.

Johnson has managed to move past a rebellion by House hard-liners that derailed legislative business in recent weeks. He and House GOP leaders still needed to convince some GOP holdouts to support the procedural vote, but in the end, Rep. Thomas Massie was the only Republican to oppose the rule.

Tuesday's procedural success sets up additional votes on the short-term funding extension, expected later tonight, and the GOP budget resolution, expected on Wednesday.

Most Democrats are likely to oppose the stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution. The House GOP measure would extend current funding until December 4, but it was drafted without Democratic input and before the White House issued a list of more than 50 adjustments it wants to spending levels in the funding patch.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said that unlike a previous bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, the new GOP stopgap would allow the Trump administration to fund the Border Patrol without substantial reforms, violating "a clear line in the sand that Democrats have drawn for months."

The Senate, meanwhile, is working on its own short-term funding bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Tuesday that he intends to bring a continuing resolution to the Senate floor before the August recess. That bill is expected to reflect the White House's list of "anomalies."

Thune also warned that Republicans will hold off on the House budget resolution and reconciliation package until the issue of government funding is settled. He threatened to use the party-line reconciliation bill to fund the government if a deal isn't reached with Democrats.

"It's a possibility that, if necessary, we could pull that budget resolution passed by the House and use it to fund government," Thune told reporters during a weekly press conference. "I hope that's not necessary. As I said, we've had productive conversations on both sides of the aisle on a funding resolution that would carry us past the November election."

It's not completely clear yet whether the Republican budget resolution can pass the House this week. Some House GOP hard-liners have raised concerns about the plan because it lacks cuts to offset the added spending. Some Republicans have also said they fear that the Senate will reject or weaken the SAVE America Act.

"While I lean toward supporting the budget framework to drive Senate action on SAVE America... I withhold final judgment due to deficit increases and concerns that the Senate will do nothing OR only send back watered down SAVE," Rep. Chip Roy wrote in a post on X Tuesday.

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