House progressives on Wednesday sharply criticized the Trump administration’s reported $200 billion funding plan for the war in Iran, warning it would deepen U.S. involvement without congressional approval and lock the country into a longer conflict.
“Not one more cent for this reckless, illegal war,” Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said at a press conference.
The pushback comes as the Pentagon prepares a massive supplemental request to cover the cost of the war, though the administration has not yet formally sent it to Congress. The funding is expected to help sustain ongoing operations and replenish munitions.
Progressive lawmakers argued it would also extend the conflict without a clear end.
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“This $200 billion … is a down payment on a long war,” Rep. Sara Jacobs said, making the case that the price tag points to more than short-term needs.
In recent days, the administration has moved thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, including Marines and paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division, even as officials say no decision has been made to send U.S. forces into ground combat.
The debate over funding is emerging as one of the clearest ways for Congress to assert control over the conflict, especially as earlier war powers resolution efforts have failed to constrain the administration.
Lawmakers in the Congressional Progressive Caucus have made clear the group of nearly 100 members is opposed to the funding. House Democratic leaders Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer both criticized early reports of a $200 billion supplemental funding request.
“The notion of them coming to Congress asking for $200 billion more is so beyond the pale that I’ve got to hope that these reports are inaccurate,” Jeffries told MS NOW last week.
Schumer said on the Senate floor last week that $200 billion is “an indefensible number, one of the most wasteful and unthought-out budget requests I’ve ever heard of in my time in the Senate.”
The early opposition suggests the funding fight could become a major test of Democratic unity against the war.
Progressives tied the funding fight to broader concerns about strategy, oversight and the administration’s decision to launch the war without congressional approval.
“This is a war that Congress never authorized, that the American people do not want,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal said.
Several members also questioned the scale of the request, pointing to the cost of the war so far and the lack of a clear explanation for how additional funding would be used.
“The war is already costing over $1 billion per day … and now Trump is asking Congress … to fund it with no end game in sight,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove said.
Officials have estimated the war cost more than $11 billion in its first week alone.
Several Republicans were caught off guard by the size of the White House’s request and said they wanted a fuller breakdown from the administration before deciding whether to support it.
In the Senate, Republicans are increasingly looking at folding the Iran war funding into a broader budget reconciliation package rather than moving it as a stand-alone bill, which would let them try to advance it with a simple majority.
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