The White House has formally requested that Congress approve $87.6bn in new supplemental funding, with the bulk of the money designated for costs associated with Donald Trump’s war against Iran. However, a leading Democrat has already signaled that her party will not support appropriating funds for a conflict that lawmakers never authorized and which remains deeply unpopular with the American public.
Funding breakdown and political standoff
The Trump administration’s supplemental request, released on Wednesday, arrives as a logjam grips the US Congress. The president has demanded that the Senate pass the Save America Act, a measure imposing sweeping new voting restrictions nationwide. The standoff escalated this week when Trump refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill until the voting bill advances, after previously linking its passage to the renewal of a key foreign surveillance law.
In a letter detailing the request, Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, stated that $67.1bn of the total would cover costs related to the conflict with Iran. This includes $21bn for munitions procurement and the defense industrial base. The request also allocates $1.4bn to combat the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and $11.1bn for US farmers, who have faced economic shocks from the Trump administration’s tariff regime and higher fertilizer and diesel prices driven by the Iran war. Additionally, the White House wants Congress to codify year-round sales of E15, a gasoline blend with higher ethanol content that is cheaper but can increase air pollution in warmer months.
Pentagon budget and Democratic backlash
The latest funding request comes on top of Trump’s proposed $1.5tn Pentagon budget, the largest in decades. While Senate and House appropriators have advanced legislation to authorize $1.15tn of those funds, the White House’s push for the remaining $350bn to be approved via a party-line measure has drawn skepticism from senior Republicans. Democratic lawmakers have scorned the idea of paying for the Iran war, which Trump initiated in February alongside Israel without prior congressional approval. Surveys indicate the conflict is unpopular; a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week found that only a quarter of Americans believe the US has emerged stronger from the conflict.
Earlier this week, the Senate passed a largely symbolic resolution to prevent the president from restarting hostilities, as his administration seeks to resolve the conflict through negotiations with Tehran. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, criticized the supplemental request, noting that the Pentagon currently has $100bn in unspent funds. “I will closely review this request in its entirety and ensure we take care of our servicemembers, but I will not rubber stamp tens of billions more for this disastrous war of choice,” Murray said in a statement.
Potential delays and procedural moves
The battle over the Save America Act may further delay consideration of the White House funding proposal. Though the voting bill lacks the votes to pass the Senate, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna said on Thursday she would effectively shut down the House floor by opposing procedural motions until the upper chamber acts on Save America. On Thursday, House Republican leadership cancelled votes planned for Friday, while the Senate has adjourned until 13 July.
