The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) is seeking an additional $200 billion from Congress to fund the United States-Israel war with Iran, a conflict that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned has no “timeframe” for ending. Asked about the figure on Thursday, Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount but said it could change, stating, “As far as $200bn, I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys.”

The Associated Press and Washington Post reported that the US Department of Defense had requested the sum from the White House. It is an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year as part of President Donald Trump’s July tax-cuts bill. Such a request would need to be approved by Congress, and it is not at all clear that such spending would have political support.

Hegseth told a news conference that they would not want to set a definitive timeframe, adding that “we’re very much on track” and that Trump will be the one to decide when to stop. However, Congress has not authorized the war and is showing growing unease with the military operation’s scope and strategy.

Congress is controlled by the president’s Republican Party, but many of the more conservative lawmakers are also fiscal hawks, with little political appetite for big spending on military operations or other matters. Most Democrats are likely to reject such a request and demand more detailed plans for military strategy and goals.

The requested amount would be a sizable boost to the Pentagon’s annual budget, which Congress approved at more than $800 billion for the current fiscal year. That is on top of some $150 billion that Congress gave the Defense Department in last year’s tax-cuts bill, much of it for specific projects and overall upgrades to the Pentagon’s operations.

While some of the military’s biggest champions on Capitol Hill have welcomed new spending as a way to upgrade US defense capabilities in the face of emerging threats, others will certainly point to healthcare and other domestic needs that they view as more important priorities. Top US military officer General Dan Caine, who spoke alongside Hegseth, provided details on weapons being used against Iran and its allied forces in the region, including A-10 Warthog aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters.

Source: www.aljazeera.com