U.S. Senate Blocks Defense Budget , Fears of Undisclosed Costs of War on Iran
Democratic members of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday blocked the annual $1.15 trillion defense policy bill, expressing their growing displeasure with the ongoing war on Iran and fearing the real undisclosed economic and military cost of this confrontation.
Although the votes in favor of the National Defense Authorization bill outnumbered the opposition by 50 votes to 46, the procedural vote failed to pass the 60-vote threshold needed to move the legislation forward in the 100-member House.
The stalemate came as a surprise after nine Democratic lawmakers on the Armed Services Committee voted against the law in June.
In his speech to the House, Democratic Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer justified his vote by saying that "President Donald Trump started this war without a mandate, without a strategy, and without a plan to withdraw."
Republican Majority Leader John Thune appealed to lawmakers to provide military resources to ensure national security, announcing a change in his voice in a procedural move that would allow him to reintroduce the bill for later debate.
The real cost is three times higher than the official estimates
Democratic concern is that the Pentagon's approval of a massive budget is a green light to continue military operations against Iran, at a time when U.S. officials have revealed that the total cost of the war could be between $80 billion and $100 billion, more than three times the latest estimate of $30 billion.
According to US sources, the undisclosed financial burdens include the reconstruction of damaged bases, as it is estimated that the rehabilitation of damaged US facilities and bases will exceed $30 billion, including $1 billion to repair damage to naval facilities in Bahrain alone ($678 million for the headquarters of the Central Naval Forces, and $237 million for docks and residential and service warehouses).
The sources revealed that the value of the munitions and missiles that were launched at a density of more than $20 billion, and include advanced systems such as Tomahawk missiles, cruise missiles, and Patriot and THAAD air defense missiles, in addition to the missing warplanes.
Military experts have warned that compensating for the shortfall in missile stockpiles faces long waiting periods, and the replacement batches will not enter active service until 2028 and possibly 2030.
Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jay Hurst told the Senate that he did not have a fully updated estimate, explaining that the previous figure of $30 billion, announced in his testimony to Congress in May, was limited to replenishment of munitions and operations, without counting the cost of rebuilding bases.
Resume of airstrikes, ceasefire collapses
The Senate vote came a day after the White House formally notified Congress of the resumption of air strikes on Iranian soil, effectively ending a fragile ceasefire in the war waged by the United States and Israel against Tehran. This escalation has caused widespread economic disruptions, including sharp fluctuations in global fuel prices.
President Donald Trump's administration is facing stiff parliamentary resistance to the White House's request to significantly increase the Pentagon's budget to $1.5 trillion from about $900 billion last year, an increase that the administration is seeking to include in the 2027 budget to modernize the Department of Defense led by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.