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President Donald Trump’s $87.6 billion request for Iran war funding is quickly running into skepticism on Capitol Hill from both parties.
The supplemental ask is unlikely to pick up much support from Democrats, with top House Appropriations Committee Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., pouring cold water on either hiking defense funding through the appropriations process or funding the war: “It’s the biggest increase in American history in a defense bill, and then you cut the non-defense by $13 billion. Give me a break.”
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Senate Armed Services Committee Democrat, said “it’s a significant amount of money, and we have to be careful.”
Still, some Democrats are open to the funding request: “There’s stuff there for farmers and other things there, Ebola, and all that. So we’re looking at it,” said purple-district Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.
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Republican leaders think that there could be enough Democratic items in the request to persuade Democrats to support it. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “There are enough things in there that should create a little bipartisan interest in trying to get something done.”
But the proposal faces criticism on the right, too, complicating its passage in the House. Among the proposed provisions is legislation codifying the year-round sale of the ethanol-gas blend E15, an issue that divides Republicans from farm and oil-producing states. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he could vote against the supplemental request because of it.
And Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Semafor she plans to hold a hearing on the request, saying it didn’t quite match up with her briefing last week from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg. “This request on the topline is different from what he told me, so we will be going through it very carefully,” Collins said.