Republican lawmakers shrug at more funding for Iran war

Republicans say the administration hasn’t suggested it needs more funding for the U.S.-Israel operation.

Armed Services Chair Sen. Roger Wicker walks to a closed-door briefing on the Iran war on March 10, 2026, in the Capitol. | Jose Luis Magana/AP

The war in Iran is tearing through the Pentagon’s budget at nearly $1 billion a day, but lawmakers are in no rush to approve more money for the Trump administration’s expanding Middle East conflict.

Top Republicans say the White House hasn’t made the case that it’s facing any financial difficulties with the war, so don’t feel pressure to boost the Pentagon’s $1 trillion budget. And Democrats are unlikely to support the plan at all, which would make securing the votes to pass a supplemental package an uphill climb.

That leaves the White House with a difficult task, particularly in a fraught midterm election year. Administration officials will have to spend significant time and political capital to push through a hugely expensive supplemental spending bill — for a war that’s largely unpopular with the American people — even as the administration tries to burnish its affordability bona fides. And the sluggish timetable means any extra Iran war money likely runs into the president’s plans to supersize the defense budget next year.

© Politico