CBO estimates Iran war cost nearly $40 billion in first four months

Kim says at least 19 service members killed, more than 750 injured

Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey, speaking before Thursday’s Senate vote on a Democratic war powers resolution, cited a Congressional Budget Office report estimating the US war with Iran has cost nearly $40 billion in its first four months. Kim said at least 19 American service members have been killed and more than 750 injured since the conflict began, and that estimates showed higher petrol prices have cost American households about $900 each since the war began.

“Democrats have taken action. We’ve come to this chamber 11 times in the past 208 days to try to bring this war to an end,” Kim said. A former State Department official who served in the Middle East, Kim said Americans were “sick and tired of this reckless and expensive war.”

“Chaos is not a negotiating tactic,” Kim said. “Trump is simply over his head here.”

The Senate voted 49-50 against the House-passed resolution, which had passed the House earlier with bipartisan support. Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kim, forced the vote under the War Powers Resolution, which allows lawmakers to bring such measures to the floor. The defeat came as the conflict passed the 200-day mark.

After the vote, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon acknowledged the uphill fight. “We’re going to stay at it until we win,” he said. Wyden identified the biggest challenge as senators who were “pretty cautious and looking at the constitutional authority.”

Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said the chamber would continue forcing votes. “We’re going to keep doing them every week because we see Republican candidates out in the field now starting to change their position,” Kaine said. “We started with one Republican vote, and we have five now,” he said. “So we’ll keep at it.”

Not all Republicans supported ending the war. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska said: “The war powers vote is about removing American forces from the region, and when there are troops in contact, I don’t believe in doing it.”

The Thursday defeat followed a series of recent Senate votes on Iran war-powers measures. In June, the Senate adopted a similar House-passed resolution 50-48, with four Republicans — Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul — voting in favor. A month later, after a ceasefire collapsed, the chamber voted 47-49 against advancing a legally binding joint resolution, with Collins the only Republican in support.