Congress Still Hasn't Approved Funding For The Iran War — Pentagon Is Covering Costs

Seven months into the conflict with Iran, Congress has not enacted a dedicated appropriation to pay for the war. That omission is the single most important fact shaping how the fighting is being financed: the Pentagon and U.S. military services are largely covering costs from existing budgets rather than from a congressional line item approved for this campaign.

Varying Cost Estimates

The numbers for direct costs differ depending on who counts and which accounts they include. The Pentagon's inspector general recorded $33.4 billion through June 30. The Congressional Budget Office, using a broader method, estimated $38.1 billion through Aug. 1 and reported a run rate of roughly $2–3 billion per month. U.S. Central Command told lawmakers this month the figure could be as high as $45.1 billion, depending on accounting choices. The totals shift because there is no agreed standard for what to include.

The Unacted Supplemental

In June the White House sent an $87.6 billion supplemental request to Capitol Hill, with $67.1 billion earmarked for the Department of Defense. CBO reviewed the request line by line and concluded only $42.3 billion was directly tied to the actual conduct of the war; the rest was readiness and modernization funding the Pentagon planned to seek in any case. Congress has not approved the supplemental.

How the War Is Being Paid For

With no supplemental appropriation, the services are drawing from base budgets—accounts designated for training, maintenance and modernization—to cover active-war costs. The Pentagon's inspector general warned this has produced "strategic inventory shortfalls" and introduced "industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply." When asked which modernization programs were being deferred, a senior Defense Department official declined to provide specifics and disputed the inspector general's conclusions.

Authorization Versus Appropriation

This is not primarily an argument about whether the war is justified. Lawmakers and the public disagree on that question. What is missing from the public record is a vote on how to pay for the conflict. Representative Pat Ryan's No Funds for Iran War Act has gathered co-sponsors, and lawmakers have held repeated floor votes intended to end the conflict; those are debates about authorization and policy. They are not the same as an appropriation, which is Congress's constitutional responsibility.

Article I grants Congress the power of the purse so war costs come due publicly, on the record, with members voting explicitly to fund—or deny—those expenses.

Two Clear Paths

Congress has two straightforward options: (1) pass the supplemental while trimming items CBO identified as unrelated to the war and thereby put Congress's seal on the actual war costs; or (2) pass legislation such as the No Funds for Iran War Act to halt funding and force a policy change. Either path would be Congress exercising its constitutional duty. What is occurring now—an executive-branch workaround and congressional silence—is neither.

The bill for the conflict is already larger than any figure members have voted on.

Jose Navarro is a financial controller with more than 20 years of experience in public and nonprofit finance and is the publisher of The Navarro Report.