GOP grapples with $200B Iran funding request from Trump, Hegseth Republicans are grappling with how to handle an expected $200 billion request for supplemental funding for the war in Iran, weighing their desire to support the president with demands from fiscal hawks, questions about the scope of the funding and the challenge of a super-slim majority in the House.
Democrats are not expected to support such a Pentagon funding boost for a war they oppose, leading Republicans to eye fulfilling the request through the special budget reconciliation process, which bypasses the need for Democratic support to clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
But to do that, Republicans must get near-unanimous support in a slim House GOP majority — a tall task for even the most populist GOP priorities — while contending with demands from their own members to offset the cost of such a funding boost with cuts elsewhere.
“It needs to be paid for. We need to do the fiscally responsible thing,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), a member of the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus.
The Washington Post first reported that the Pentagon had asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion supplemental request to Congress to fund the U.S. war in Iran.
The U.S. must “adequately fund defense,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday when asked whether the supplemental sum was too much for a war that he himself has asserted is “all but complete.”
“I’m sure it will be detailed and specified. I’m sure it’s not a random number, so we’ll look at that,” he told reporters, stressing that “it’s a dangerous time in the world.”...........
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5791945-pentagon-funding-iran-war-supplemental-republicans/
