Pentagon wants $200B for Iran war. Four times over budget, a trillion in debt to follow

The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a request of more than $200 billion to fund the ongoing war in Iran. A figure that could trigger a fierce political fight in Congress and further squeeze American household budgets already strained by rising prices.

A senior administration official confirmed the request and told The Washington Post that the Defense Department wants the money primarily to ramp up production of weapons that have been used up at a rapid pace. U.S. and Israeli forces have hit thousands of targets over the past three weeks. The $200 billion figure would go well beyond what the military has already spent on airstrikes.

The White House has not decided how much it will actually send to Congress. Some officials inside the administration doubt the full amount stands any realistic chance of passing, and the Pentagon has reportedly put forward several different figures over the past two weeks.

The war’s price tag has been climbing fast. Pentagon officials say the U.S. spent about $11.3 billion in the first week alone. But outside experts and government officials who spoke anonymously say the real daily burn rate is somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion, roughly $11,500 to $23,000 every second.

A three-week conflict could cost taxpayers anywhere from $60 billion to $130 billion, according to two government officials who cautioned the estimates were rough. A five-week war could reach $175 billion. Eight weeks could push the total to $250 billion or more.

Linda Bilmes, a public policy professor at Harvard Kennedy School and co-author of “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” puts the cost at over $50 billion once the fighting stretches into its third or fourth week but she told The Intercept, the upfront spending is just one piece of the puzzle.Veterans’ disability claims, interest on borrowed money, and a permanently bigger defense budget could together run into the trillions over time.

Political battle looms in congress

The funding request is expected to spark a major showdown on Capitol Hill. Democrats have been strongly critical of the war, and public support remains weak. Republicans back a supplemental request in principle but have not laid out a clear path to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said all opposition to the war would rally around the money fight. “If the administration asks for more money, there will be a big political fight because all the anti-war sentiment will focus on that request,” he said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the administration had not made its case. “The notion that they would come up here and ask for additional money is beyond the pale at this moment,” he said.

Deputy Defense Secretary Steven Feinberg has been leading the internal budget effort, focused on fixing a shortage of precision munitions and pushing the defense industry to produce more, faster. Experts note that simply spending more money does not automatically speed up weapons production, which is limited by workers, factories, and raw materials. As former Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker put it, “You’re definitely not going to get it sooner if you don’t” invest, but money alone is no guarantee.

Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas has also pushed for intelligence community funding to be added to the package.

Before the war even started, President Trump had called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget, more than 50 percent above the prior year’s level. The White House budget office had already flagged that figure as too high.

War’s economic ripple effects are already hitting ordinary Americans

The war’s economic ripple effects are already hitting ordinary Americans. When the U.S. and Israel launched their joint attack on Iran late last month, crude prices spiked to nearly $120 a barrel within days before pulling back to around $100, where they have been hovering, still well above the roughly $70 a barrel seen before the war started.

At the pump, prices have gone in one direction only: up. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline now stands at $3.84, according to AAA, up from $2.92 just a month ago.

The broader economy was already showing strain before the oil shock hit. The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in the latest reporting period, with unemployment holding at 4.4%. The Federal Reserve met this week and held interest rates steady for the second meeting in a row, keeping its benchmark rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.

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