Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are concerned that the cost of Operation: Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that began February 28, is equally epic.
Early estimates put the cost at about $900 million per day, which translates to $3.7 billion for the first 100 hours of the conflict. Before the war hit a full seven days, about $11.3 billion had been spent. Department of Defense officials estimate that the Pentagon spent $5.6 billion worth of weaponry alone during the first two days.
The human toll in this short time has been equally staggering. An estimated 1,300 people in Iran and 900 individuals in Lebanon have been killed, while 12 people in Israel and 13 U.S. servicepeople have also lost their lives.
Congressional Republicans have heretofore avoided substantive public discourse about the war, yet there are some who are concerned with the administration’s lack of communication ahead of its request for more war funding.
“I don’t want to just be given the invoice from the Department of Defense, saying this is what it’s going to cost,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “I want them to be engaged with us.”
Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky drew attention to the economic challenges Americans are facing, specifically rising gas prices.
“The price of gas has gone up $0.47 and the price of diesel has gone up $0.83 in 10 days due to War with Iran. and waging war costs American taxpayers about $1 billion per day, which comes out to $10 per family per day, or $100 since the war began. This isn’t America First,” he posted on X.
Lawmakers have said they expect the Pentagon’s supplemental request to reach at least $50 billion, plus a $1.5 trillion War Department budget request for 2027.
However, many Republicans sound ready to continue to grant the Trump administration’s wishes.
“They’ll need it,” Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis, said about the supplemental request. “We’re shooting off a lot of ammo. Gotta’ restock.”
Key Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, pushed back on talk of additional funding.
“The administration has not even made the case to the American people as to why we are spending billions of dollars and dropping bombs every day in Iran,” he said during a Monday press conference. “So the notion that they would come up here and ask for additional money is beyond the pale at this moment.”
Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., noted that the Pentagon was given north of $150 billion in Trump’s controversial Big Beautiful Bill last year.
[The Pentagon] “got a boatload of extra cash, more than $150 billion, in last summer’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” he said.
After a classified briefing, Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., spoke to the press to express her concern that the administration’s priorities are out of alignment with the reality that many Americans are facing.
“While there is no money for 15 million Americans who lost their health care, there’s a billion dollars a day to spend on bombing Iran,” said Warren.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, expects the war to last four to six weeks.
