President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in the Cabinet Room. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
A senior administration figure leaking that the Trump administration will ask Congress for $200 million to continue its war with Iran shows that even the inner circle worries that things are out of control.
The leak raised eyebrows after The Washington Post first reported it, and now speculation is swirling that the tip from the White House inner circle was intended as a general wake-up call to Republicans in Congress: the Iran situation isn’t getting any better, even with that level of spending.
“All this makes it absolutely clear that Congress will not just be asked to fund Trump’s war, but also that the pressure on Congress to do something about this madness will intensify,” states The New Republic.
Congressman Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told host Greg Sargent on The New Republic podcast that the $200 billion request is just the start.
“This is $200 billion — on top of, by the way, the other thing that has been leaked, which is that the president wants to ask for $1.5 trillion in the regular defense budget, which is a 50 percent increase in the defense budget from what it was before,” Smith said.
“So that’s pushing up close to $2 trillion for defense in a nation that’s $40 trillion in debt — and they just cut taxes by $4 trillion.”
Smith noted how prior cuts to USAID play a role in extending the Iran war.
“And I always remember something that Bob Gates said to our committee, 15 or 20 years ago now, when he was secretary of defense: if you cut diplomacy, if you cut development, you better give me more ammunition, because we’re going to have more conflicts in the world. And that is the path that Trump is walking us down.”
Smith also flatly declares that no Democrats should agree to fund another dime for Trump’s war, and vows that if Democrats win the majority, his handling of it will face vigorous investigations.
A huge battle looms in Congress over the $200 billion request.
“It’s going to be very tough to get it through," said Smith. "I think all Democrats should oppose it. I mean, I’ll oppose it for no other reason than I oppose this war and I want this war to stop. But look — you want to know something really funny? You know what Congress tried to pass yesterday in the House? A balanced budget amendment. The Republican House put that out — I mean, I’m not often speechless, but I’m close to speechless trying to explain that. So there will be some Republicans who will say, gosh, we can’t do this, it’s too expensive and all of that. But you know the pattern — they say it, and then at the end of the day, they do whatever Trump asks them to. So how many Republicans will actually oppose it? I don’t know.”
The Congressman was appalled at the notion of spending on the war while neglecting other issues.
“The idea that we’re going to dig into the rest of the budget — we’re cutting Medicaid, food stamps, we’re cutting all of these programs — and then we’re going to pull $200 billion aside on top of a $1.5 trillion defense budget? Hell no. No Democrat should vote for this. And I hope the Republicans who care about fiscal responsibility will stand up and say no. But it’s a tough call. And then you get into the whole 60 votes in the Senate — did they get rid of the filibuster? I think it’s going to be really difficult to pull through this amount of money.”