Huge Trump Iran war funding request faces stiff opposition in Congress

The US military’s request for $200 billion in additional funding for the Iran war met with stiff opposition in the US Congress on Thursday, as Democrats and even some Republicans questioned the need for the money after large defense appropriations last year.

A US official confirmed a Washington Post report that the Department of Defense has asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran.

President Donald Trump has not yet sent a request for the Senate and House of Representatives to approve the huge sum, and his administration made clear the number could change.

Early indications suggest that the war will be the most expensive for the US since the long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Administration officials told lawmakers that the first six days of the Iran war had cost more than $11 billion.

The Republican-led Congress has already approved record funding for the military since Trump began his second term in January 2025. Last month, he signed into law the Fiscal 2026 Defense Appropriations Act with about $840 billion in funding.

And last summer, over stiff opposition from Democrats, the Republican-led Congress passed a sweeping tax cut and spending bill that included $156 billion for defense.

Democrats questioned why the Pentagon needed more money, given recent cuts to social services, foreign aid and other programs, and said that no one who opposes the war should vote to fund it.

Some of Trump’s fellow Republicans also seemed surprised at the amount being considered. Republican Senator Susan Collins, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, tells reporters at the Capitol that she had not yet been notified about a $200 billion supplemental request.

She says the total is “considerably higher than I would have guessed, but I don’t know how it’s broken down.”

Collins also says she would most likely want a public hearing on such a request.