The moral argument against the Iran war has not worked. The three service members who died over the weekend brought the total to 18 dead and more than 440 wounded. The president ordered a 10th night of strikes anyway.
So the Democrats are trying a different argument: the price tag.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to request an additional $67.1 billion in emergency funding for the Iran war and other defense priorities. The war has already cost $37.5 billion since it began on February 28, up from the $29 billion Hegseth estimated in May.
The new request takes the total Pentagon budget for this year to $1.3 trillion. That is more than the entire GDP of most countries on earth.
What the money buys
The breakdown tells you what kind of war this is. Of the $67.1 billion requested:
- $32.7 billion for direct war operations
- $21 billion for munitions, bombs and missiles that get used up faster than they can be replaced
- $17.3 billion for operations and maintenance
- $12.1 billion for classified programs
- $5.1 billion for cybersecurity
- $2.4 billion for drones
- $1.7 billion for readiness
- $1.5 billion for fuel
- $2 billion for administration priorities and National Guard support
Roughly half the money is for the Iran campaign. The rest goes to other defense priorities Hegseth says are necessary.
The Pentagon already has $75 billion left from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” reconciliation package passed earlier this year. Hegseth said that money is “slated to be used to restore a military that was ignored under the Biden administration,” a line that drew pushback from Democrats who noted the Pentagon budget has grown every year regardless of who was in office.
The Democratic pushback
Senator Patty Murray of Washington: “The president’s request is not even primarily a request to cover the costs of the Iran war. This request is chock full of asks to fund unrelated DoD priorities, which should be considered through our annual appropriations process, not in an emergency supplemental.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York: “You’re asking for $1.5 trillion, unlimited money for bombs, but insufficient money for the American people for their healthcare, their food, their housing.”
The exchange captures the emerging political argument. Democrats cannot stop the war through the War Powers Resolution, the White House says the clock stopped during the April ceasefire. They cannot stop it through public pressure, the president’s approval rating on the war is 29% and the strikes continue. But they can force a debate about money.
The question is whether that debate will matter. Republicans on the committee did not oppose the request. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed Hegseth on Russia and Ukraine but did not challenge the spending. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska asked whether approving the supplemental would restart the 60-day War Powers clock, a sign of unease, but not opposition.
The broader cost
These are the numbers the Pentagon counts. The numbers it does not count include: the 14 merchant mariners killed in Strait of Hormuz attacks, the more than 1,700 Iranian civilians dead, and the $270 billion in damage to Iran’s infrastructure.
The IEA recorded physical crude trading near $150 a barrel in April, a number that never made it to the Brent screen because traders assumed Trump would back down before a prolonged shortage. That assumption has now been shattered.
The question Senator Gillibrand asked, unlimited money for bombs, insufficient money for healthcare and food, is the one no one in the administration has answered. The $67.1 billion request will be debated in the coming weeks. Whether the cost of the war becomes a political liability before the midterms is a question of arithmetic the Democrats are betting on.