AP reported that the Pentagon has sought $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war and that it has already sent the request to the White House, setting up a new round of congressional scrutiny over both cost and strategy. In response to questions at a Thursday press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not confirm the figure, saying it could change.
“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said, adding that the department was “going back to Congress” to ensure it was “properly funded,” according to AP’s report. The $200 billion number is likely to be contested in Congress because any new money would require lawmakers to approve supplemental funding.
AP said the request would come on top of extra defense funding the department already received last year as part of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts bill. The report also described rising debt levels, noting the nation’s debt had surged past a record $39 trillion, and said the Pentagon’s request would add to already-large federal spending in the current fiscal year.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, have been bracing for a new spending request but have expressed uncertainty about whether the White House transmitted the Pentagon’s request for congressional consideration. The AP report said lawmakers have not authorized the Iran war, and that Congress has shown growing unease about the military operation’s scope and strategy—an issue that could amplify questions about how any additional money will be used.
Rep. Ken Calvert, a Republican chair of a House subcommittee overseeing defense spending, said he was already pushing a supplemental spending bill that would allow the Pentagon to replenish munitions, and he linked the new request to additional costs stemming from the conflict. Calvert said it was “about our national security” and that he expected Congress to get it done, according to AP.
Rep. Betty McCollum, the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee, said the president had taken the country into a war without coming to Congress and that she would not treat the process as automatic approval. She said Congress was still waiting for the administration to explain where it would spend additional funding that had gone to the Pentagon through Trump’s tax and spending cut bill, and she said lawmakers were also waiting on the president’s budget request.
On the White House side, Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that the administration was seeking the money for reasons beyond Iran, and he described the emergency spending as a “very small price to pay” to keep the nation’s military in top shape. House Speaker Mike Johnson said it was a “dangerous time” and that lawmakers had to “adequately fund defense,” but he told reporters he had not seen the details of the request.
Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called the $200 billion price tag “outrageous,” while nonpartisan projections cited by AP included a Congressional Budget Office forecast of a $1.9 trillion annual federal deficit this year before adding supplemental spending. The AP report described how Republicans could face opposition from fiscal conservatives and how Democrats would likely seek more detail about the administration’s plans.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise indicated that negotiations would come after lawmakers see more information, telling reporters that “ultimately we’re going to have negotiations with the White House on an exact amount” but that they were “not at that point yet.” As Congress prepares to consider any supplemental package, the request is expected to collide with competing priorities—from military replenishment efforts to concerns about deficits and domestic spending.