Trump Wants $200 Billion for Iran — And Congress Doesn't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry

The Trump administration has sent a supplemental spending request to Congress for $200 billion to fund the ongoing military operations against Iran. Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged that the administration “will need to provide Congress with all of the fine points” and that “it remains to be seen” if the measure can pass.

Two hundred billion dollars. For context, that’s roughly the GDP of New Zealand. It’s more than the annual budget of the Department of Education, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development combined. And this is just the supplemental — on top of the existing $886 billion defence budget.

The Filibuster Problem

The request needs 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster, which means Trump needs Democratic support. This puts Senate Democrats in an extraordinarily difficult position: vote against funding troops already deployed in combat, or hand Trump a blank cheque for a war many of them opposed.

Some Democrats are exploring a compromise that would attach conditions — congressional oversight mechanisms, an authorisation for the use of military force with an expiration date, and restrictions on ground troop deployment. Whether the White House will accept such conditions is doubtful.

Where Are the Fiscal Conservatives?

The silence from the Republican Party’s self-proclaimed deficit hawks is remarkable. The same members who blocked domestic spending over far smaller sums are apparently comfortable with an open-ended commitment that could dwarf the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The party of fiscal responsibility has become the party of fiscal amnesia.