Lawmakers await request from White House for more defense funds for Iran war

One veteran lawmaker said he expects the request to be in the tens of billions of dollars.

The House and Senate have received classified briefings from top administration officials this week about the Iran strikes, and some lawmakers emerged with more questions, including when the request for more money will come.

“They’re going to need money so obviously they have to talk to us,” said Sen. Mike Rogers, Alabama Republican and chair of the House Armed Services Committee. “It doesn’t surprise me given, what we’re doing over there.” 

Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican and a fiscal hawk, said he anticipates that Congress “will give the administration what it needs.”

Other Republicans also were open to the idea of giving whatever’s needed for the fight.

“I’m open to what they need,” said Sen. John Hoeven, North Dakota Republican. “We’ve been in this war on terror for 20 years, and how are we ever going to end this global war on terror if you don’t take out the number one perpetrator and that’s Iran – state sponsor of terror, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and beyond.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, told Politico Wednesday that supplemental funds will be passed “when it’s appropriate.”

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Republican and an appropriator, said it was not a “secret” that a supplemental was needed, even before this military action, to deal with the threat of China. But he said the Iran conflict “makes it more necessary.”

Democratic support will be needed to pass a supplemental due to the slim Republican majority, but most Democrats agree that more information is needed before they sign off on additional money.

“The details matter. We need to look at what portion of this goes to munitions, does this degrade our readiness if we don’t support this?” House Democratic Caucus Chair Peter Aguilar said. “These are all questions that committees of jurisdiction… will all kind of dig in once they send this over.”

“I’m incredibly skeptical of anything the president puts in front of us, but I have a duty and responsibility to help protect this country and in the position I have as a defense appropriator, I want to ask a lot of questions, but it’s going to be pretty hard to move me,” the California Democrat said.

Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware,  a top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees defense spending, said for “responsible planning” it would be “minimally prudent for the Pentagon” to seek funding and replacement for the munitions the U.S. has been using.

“I’ve spoken to leadership at the Pentagon about it. I’ve spoken to my colleague, Sen. [Mitch] McConnell [Kentucky Republican,] about it and I think we need to be clear-eyed about how this poorly-planned, ill-conceived war is putting at risk our capacity to defend American bases, American civilians, and be prepared for the full range of contingencies that are part of planning for our national security,” he said.

He said he wouldn’t be “warmly receptive to an open-ended ‘we just need more’” request from the White House, but said he expects the request to be in the tens of billions of dollars.

“What I think the administration owes the American people is an argument for how long is this going to last, and how does this end so that we have any idea of the scope,” he said.

Rep. Jason Crow, Colorado Democrat, said he’d be unlikely to support more funding because he doesn’t “support the war that they started, and Americans don’t support the war that they started either.”

“Let’s start by figuring out how much money that they’re actually using,” Mr. Crow said.

Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, who is also an appropriator, was more succinctly against additional spending: “Good Luck.”

“What Democrat is going to vote to fund an illegal war that is turning into a bigger ham-handed disaster every minute?” he said. “So they can bring a supplemental bill but I don’t think with the exception of one Democrat there’ll be any votes for it.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that she had no updates on any congressional requests from President Trump.

“As you know, under this president, we have significantly increased our defense budget, which is a good thing for the United States, for our national security, and for protecting our homeland,” she said. “With respect to munitions, ammunition, weapon stockpiles, the United States of America has more than enough capability to not only successfully execute Operation Epic fury but to go much further, and we have weapon stockpiles in places that many people in this world don’t even know about.”

Any additional money would come on top the nearly $1 trillion dollar budget the Defense Department currently has, and the more than $150 billion it received from the passage of Mr. Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” bill last summer.

Mr. Trump also said Monday that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited” supply of munitions.

“Wars can be fought ‘forever’ and very successfully using just these supplies (which are better than other countries finest arms!),” he wrote on social media. “At the highest end, we have a good supply, but not where we want to be. Much additional high-grade weaponry is stored for us in outlying countries.”

But sources told Threat Status at The Washington Times that the Trump administration is expected to meet with top defense industry leaders later this week, including L3Harris, Lockheed Martin and RTX, the larger company over Raytheon.

– Lindsey McPherson and John T. Seward contributed to this report.