WASHINGTON — Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg told lawmakers the Pentagon needs $80 billion to cover costs from the Iran war and other bills, according to people familiar with the discussions, as Pentagon leaders warned the military could run out of operating funds this summer without a new wartime spending bill.
The figure, disclosed in phone calls with lawmakers this week, represents the Pentagon’s first comprehensive price tag for the conflict that began Feb. 28. The Pentagon’s budget for the current fiscal year 2026 is roughly $1 trillion. Any supplemental request would need to be approved by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget before it goes to Congress, officials said.
Pentagon leaders have said the services will have to cut back on training exercises and other priorities because of the Iran war and troop deployments along the U.S. southern border, according to the people. Some of the money will go to ship operations, personnel pay and munitions, one of the people said.
Feinberg’s calls came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with senior Republican senators on Capitol Hill this week, in which he brought up the possibility of defense funding requests, according to lawmakers. The military has been grappling with soaring costs from multiple operations this year, including the Iran war — which the Pentagon estimated at $29 billion in mid-May but now says is likely higher — and the attack on Venezuela that led to the capturing of the country’s leader, as well as repeated strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
Any war spending request arriving on Capitol Hill would likely spur debate about Trump’s decision to go to war. Some lawmakers warned they will not vote to approve additional funding unless Congress votes to authorize military operations, as it did for the first Gulf War and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Trump administration never sought congressional authorization for the war, and Democrats have argued it is therefore illegal.
“There are not 60 votes in the Senate for a supplemental. I think that’s a pretty true statement that’s not going to change anytime soon,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), a member of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee. “They have made no effort to keep Congress in the loop, and they know that the war is wildly unpopular,” Murphy said, referring to the Trump administration.
Most legislation typically requires 60 votes to advance in the Senate, meaning Republicans would need to secure votes from at least some Democrats. Senate Republicans could also turn to a special process called budget reconciliation, which allows the Senate to bypass the 60-vote rule and pass budget-related legislation with a simple majority — an approach some senior Republican appropriators have already said they oppose. In the House, it would require a majority; Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers.
Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), one of the senators who met with Hegseth on Tuesday, said they spoke about the necessity to ensure the military has the resources it needs. “There’s been a draw down, as you know, of weaponry. We need to make sure that that’s refilled,” Barrasso said.
A full U.S. supplemental request, which will include money for the Pentagon as well as nondefense priorities such as farm and disaster relief, could be sent to lawmakers in the coming days, according to the people. The White House and OMB declined to answer questions about a potential war supplemental. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on Feinberg’s conversations.