COST OF TRUMP'S IRAN WAR

COST OF TRUMP'S IRAN WAR

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 50 (Thursday, March 19, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 50 (Thursday, March 19, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2609-H2610] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] COST OF TRUMP'S IRAN WAR (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Kaptur of Ohio was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on February 28, President Donald Trump made a unilateral decision to take the United States and the American people to war against the nation of Iran. Iran is a nation of 93 million people with sophistication and fundamentalist religious leaders that imbue Iran's actions intergenerationally. Iran holds influence across millions of adherents, even across its borders. Religious ties, affinities, and memories linger across borders in that undemocratic region of the world. Without any consultation and in direct violation of congressional war [[Page H2610]] powers in our Constitution that belongs to the people of the United States, not just the President, our Nation is now at war with a religious state. Valiant members of our Armed Forces have been sent into battle in one of the most complex and combustible regions of the world. Never in the entire history of our Nation has any such consequential decision to take our military and the American people to war been made solely by any former President without a vote of Congress. Valiant members of our Armed Forces are being killed. We, as Members of Congress, must offer consolation to their families and the communities from which they come, and we must pay tribute to their bravery and sheer patriotism. However, like their families, we remain stunned as we, too, were unaware they were being deployed into war in territory we know to be very dangerous. Last week, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was quoted as saying he would oppose any Iran supplemental. He said that he is hearing from farmers in his State impacted by rising costs on everything, including oil, that stem from the war. He thinks Congress should focus on domestic issues. Well, we can't do just that, but I do agree with Senator Rand Paul that the war places a tourniquet on global energy supplies, and prices on almost everything will continue to rise. I can comment that as planting season is upon us, diesel and fertilizer costs are through the roof, and our farmers, producers, and growers are really feeling it. Now, the Trump administration says that it seeks Congress to appropriate--get ready for this--$200 billion more of additional financial support for this undeclared war. {time} 1110 No Member of Congress would abandon our troops in harm's way. I will repeat that. No Member of Congress would abandon our troops in harm's way, but here are vital questions that must be asked by the American people and this Congress and answered by the administration: What does victory look like? What does it look like? Which nations are our allies in this struggle and are placing troops on the ground? How many troops in each adjoining nation are already on the ground? How will the Trump administration raise the funds to pay for what will likely be a half trillion dollars or more not just for the war but for the rebuilding of a very troubled, difficult region? There will be a lingering instability that could pose more unrest in that region. Chaos is a possibility. The President has already in his first and now second administrations added over $6 trillion to America's debt, and it is rising. Does the President intend to borrow the funds necessary and from whom, indebting the American people for generations to come? Trillions of dollars is a lot of money. To conduct this undeclared war on Iran and apparently adjoining countries, the Trump administration is increasing our debt and borrowing even more money from China to spend against Iran. China, looking at our debt accounts, can ask for payment on those bonds at any time. I don't like the prospect of that. At the same time, with the billions of defense dollars being spent in the Middle East, too many of our global assets are being repositioned from the Pacific and the European NATO commitment. The President relatedly announced he is going to lift oil sanctions on Russia. That means he is empowering Russia, the fiercest foe of liberty, at the same time as he is enriching China. Did liberty in our world just turn upside down? Have key Trump officials forgotten the difference between liberty and tyranny? Mr. Speaker, I ask America to pay attention. Now, let us be serious about the accounting of these ongoing war efforts. The first week alone was reported to cost $11.3 billion, not a penny of that brought before the respective congressional appropriations committees for approval. Just in the first week, $11.3 billion spent. At a pace of $2 billion per day, that means we are spending $23,000 per second. At this pace, spending could reach $1 trillion more by November 2027. I can guarantee you our Defense Appropriations Subcommittee has not approved a single penny of this spending for the war on Iran. This is a war of Presidential choice. Billions have been spent. As of today, we estimate about $40 billion, the 20th day of President Trump's war. The President is erasing money from other accounts, I guess, in order to put it into this undeclared, fateful military engagement, erasing it from accounts he has to, like health insurance and food for children. We are asking where has the President emptied the accounts to pay for this war? Our debt gets worse every day, and since he took office 14 months ago, our national debt has ballooned to $39 trillion. That is $3 trillion more than just over a year ago. That translates into a growing tax on generations to come and that is wrong. The President must present to Congress his plan to pay for his war of choice. Otherwise, our ship of state is going to be tilting in ways that harm the American people. They are already seeing it in the price of essentials like food, gas, fertilizer for our farmers, medical care, diesel, energy prices, water prices are going up, and housing is unaffordable and rising every day. I can guarantee you the American people are feeling the raw pinch of this already. I have questions. Who exactly will be President Trump's emissaries to negotiate a lasting peace in the Middle East? What background do they have in that part of the world? What qualifications do they have to offer in the way of expertise? It is obvious the ones that he assigned, his son-in-law and Mr. Witkoff, had no success. They had no experience in that part of the world. They had no experience in negotiating peace. It is obvious the current negotiators were unable to prevent war. The only President of whom I am aware who made consequential peace in the Middle East was President Jimmy Carter, a man I served nearly half a century ago. He worked diligently for months and months, and I daresay years, at that astounding achievement of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. I urge President Trump's associates to contact the Carter Center and identify some of those who are currently living and participated in that extraordinary achievement and seek their advice. This is not a simple engagement, and it will have lasting repercussions. Recall it was President Trump during his first term that pulled the rug out from Afghanistan in 2018 when he withdrew from that deal, and as we watched greater instability grow, he actually made a deal with the Taliban who are our enemies and then our allies in Afghanistan collapsed. He precipitated the U.S. withdrawal, not Joe Biden. When Joe Biden took office, the damage had already been done. As I view the road forward, who will be the diplomatic corps that will be necessary to follow on this major invasion with negotiations for a just and lasting peace? In the national interest, partisanship has to be put aside, and the most intelligent and experienced people in our country must be drawn together. To find a way forward, levelheaded people with foreign policy experience and budgetary know-how must be brought to the forefront. This heedlessness on multiple fronts cannot continue. Our people deserve a White House focused on resolution and here at home, affordability for the American people, not another endless foreign war with no strategy and no way out. What is truly troubling to me as I watch this engagement is, I don't see some of the richest tyrannies in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where are their troops on the ground? They are not there. We need a clear path forward for the American people, and the President needs to come to Congress as we attempt to negotiate the ship of state toward a stable Middle East, engaging countries around the world who are also suffering from this decision. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________