Pentagon Seeks $80B for Iran War       06/23 06:20

   The Pentagon has told senators it needs roughly $80 billion, mostly to cover 
the cost of the U.S. war against Iran, adding to what is already a sizable 
military spending boost being sought by President Donald Trump.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has told senators it needs roughly $80 
billion, mostly to cover the cost of the U.S. war against Iran, adding to what 
is already a sizable military spending boost being sought by President Donald 
Trump.

   The White House Office of Management and Budget has yet to make a formal 
request to Congress. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making the 
rounds on Capitol Hill, including Monday evening. A top deputy defense 
secretary told senators about the Iran funding request last week, according to 
two people familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it 
publicly.

   The Wall Street Journal first reported on the developments.

   Push for Pentagon money faces skeptical lawmakers

   The push for billions of dollars in Iran war funding comes at a fraught 
political moment. Lawmakers are skeptical of the deal Trump struck with Iran to 
bring an end to the war, and wary of next steps. The White House has requested 
a remarkable $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon -- a nearly 50% increase over the 
current fiscal year's funding levels.

   Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he's expecting a supplemental 
spending request from the administration for the war, and when it arrives, 
"we'll work through it and see where the votes are."

   "We need to make sure we're doing everything we can to replenish, resupply a 
lot our munitions that have been depleted -- not only just with what's 
happening with Iran, but prior to that," said Thune, R-S.D.

   Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg spoke to several senators about 
the proposal in calls last week and he notified congressional committees that 
the $80 billion request had been sent to the Office of Management and Budget. 
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

   However, the funding package will almost certainly run into trouble from 
lawmakers who refuse to support Trump's decision to go to war and are reluctant 
to give the Pentagon more money at a time of high costs of living for Americans 
at home.

   "You're spending families' hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many 
strongly oppose," Democratic Sen. Patty Murray told Hegseth in a hearing last 
month.

   Trump seeks a record $1.5 trillion for Defense this year

   In addition to the Iran funding, Republicans hope to secure about $1.1 
trillion through the regular appropriations process, which typically requires 
support from both parties for approval. Then, they hope to secure an additional 
$350 billion through a mostly party-line vote later this summer.

   The amount being sought by the Pentagon is far higher than the $29 billion 
estimate of war costs that Hegseth gave Congress during his testimony last 
month. The bulk of that amount was related to replacing munitions and repairing 
equipment but also included operational costs to keep forces deployed. That 
estimate did not include the cost to repair or rebuild U.S. military sites 
damaged in the region.

   It's also far lower than the initial $200 billion the Pentagon floated as 
the costs at the start of the war. An early estimate put the cost of the first 
week of the war at $11.3 billion.

   Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a member of Democratic party leadership, said 
he expects the actual price tag could be much higher than the $80 billion being 
proposed.

   Schatz said he hasn't done any counting of Democrats about whether there is 
support for an Iran-focused bill, "but I haven't found anyone who wants to do 
this."

   But Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana said, "To me it's less about the 
war, it's more about the stockpiles."

   Banks said, "I would sell it to my state as an investment in our defense 
industrial base, reshoring defense production to Indiana."

   Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, 
said funding for an Iran supplemental can't be done in isolation. It has to be 
done after lawmakers from both parties have agreed to a total spending amount 
for both defense and non-defense programs, "then the rest of this would follow 
pretty quickly," Reed said.

   And Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, a member of the Appropriations 
subcommittee on Defense, said he has been working with the administration to 
broaden the package to include funds for disaster aid for California, Hawaii 
and other states hard hit by fires and weather problems, as well as 
agricultural aid for farmers.

   "I think that's the kind of combination that could pass," Hoeven said.

   Hegseth declined to answer questions from reporters late Monday as he strode 
around the Capitol.

   But on the issue of the cost of the war, Hegseth responded rhetorically 
during a Senate hearing last month, asking, "What is the cost of Iran obtaining 
a nuclear weapon?"

   He acknowledged the president's decision to confront the threat of a nuclear 
Iran "comes with cost -- and we recognize that."