President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to approve an $88 billion budget increase for the current year, mainly to cover expenses stemming from the war with Iran. The request is widely seen as unlikely to pass, after Democrats quickly signaled strong opposition.
According to the White House letter sent to Congress, about $70 billion of the package would fund Pentagon operational costs from the Iran war. That includes $21 billion for weapons and ammunition, and $4 billion for a new program to launch a satellite constellation that would monitor aerial targets from space.
The request also includes $11 billion for farmers and $1.4 billion to respond to an Ebola outbreak in Africa. But the proposal faces a major hurdle in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed and Democratic support would be essential. Nearly all Democrats have said they oppose the war and will not back its funding.
Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, said the administration had not answered basic questions about the war’s goals, its justification, or its costs. She added that the request was not only about financing what she called the president’s destructive war, but also about trying to secure tens of billions more for other Pentagon priorities that should be reviewed through the regular annual budget process. CNN reported this week, citing a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, that the war with Iran has cost the U.S. government about $40 billion, including ammunition, destroyed equipment and base damage, but excluding operational costs already built into the Pentagon’s 2026 fiscal-year budget.
