White House seeks $87.6B from Congress for Iran war costs, US farmers and Ebola response

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House has formally requested $87.6 billion mostly to replenish the Pentagon after the U.S. war against Iran, submitting the request to Congress at a politically difficult time as Republican and Democratic lawmakers have objected to any further military action.

The Office of Management and Budget sent the supplemental spending request on Wednesday. It arrived just hours after President Donald Trump assailed Republican senators during a private lunch — engaging in a shouting match with one — over their votes to approve a war powers resolution that would halt further hostilities.

The request is mostly for expenses incurred by the Defense Department as part of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led attack on Iran. But it also includes a range of other items, including $11.1 billion toward economic assistance for American farmers, $1.4 billion for the Ebola virus outbreak in Central Africa and $500 million to support ongoing efforts “to complete restoration and construction projects in and around Washington, D.C.”

“I urge the Congress to take action on these important and urgent requests as soon as possible,” said OMB Director Russ Vought in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, “President Trump is asking taxpayers to clean up his messes, to the tune of $87.6 billion.”

“After dragging America into a reckless war, he now wants Congress to hand him tens of billions more to paper over the damage — while families are still paying higher prices.”

It’s unclear how quickly the House and Senate could act on the White House’s request, or if Congress takes up the matter at all. The funding faces a difficult path because many lawmakers could view any votes as a reflection of test of their support for the war effort.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday briefing House GOP lawmakers from the conservative Republican Study Committee on the Pentagon’s budgetary needs. The White House is seeking as much as $1.5 trillion in defense spending in this year’s budget, a nearly 50% increase over previous levels.

But many lawmakers have complained they have yet to receive any formal briefing from the administration on the Iran war, nearly four months after it was launched, and as Trump’s team is now working to secure a fragile ceasefire and bring an end to the conflict.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the request is not merely to pay for “the president’s disastrous war, but an attempt to secure tens of billions of additional dollars for unrelated Pentagon priorities.”

Murray said she would review to ensure servicemembers are taken care of, “but I will not rubberstamp tens of billions more for this disastrous war of choice.”

Yet the White House was clear to include provisions to interest lawmakers from various regions, including $1 billion to assist “the final design and construction of a modernized Penn Station in New York City,” which would be of interest to Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both of New York.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Ca., who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on Defense, said in a joint statement, "President Trump’s request reflects the reality that our defense strength must be maintained, not merely demonstrated.”

The bulk of the request, $67 billion, is to replenish the Pentagon from the Iran war. The largest portion of that defense funding, $21 billion, would go to weapons and munitions, with another $17.3 billion for operational costs and $12.1 billion for other classified programs. Funds are also requested to cover fuel costs, drone manufacturing and cybersecurity.

The money for farmers would provide $10 billion in economic assistance to row and specialty crop farmers and $1.1 billion specifically to Florida agriculture producers who suffered losses from this past year’s winter storms.

The package also includes a collection of policy proposals that the administration strongly supports, and which are certain to raise interest among lawmakers.

Among them, the package proposes revisions to federal regulations of hemp products that have long been in dispute, changes to the year-round sales of renewable fuels and lifting of restrictions around federal investment support in Venezuela.

The administration is also requesting $550 million to prevent and detect the Ebola virus in Congo, where an outbreak has killed more than 250 people. Another $800 million would go to provide humanitarian assistance to the region.