Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said President Donald Trump’s military action in Iran was exposing the troops to “completely unnecessary risk.”
Partial transcript as follows:
MARGARET BRENNAN: The Pentagon may be looking at a supplemental budget request to fund this new war in the Middle East. CSIS estimates the first 100 hours of the war cost nearly $4 billion. Have you heard an estimate on cost? Where are we on this supplemental? Will it get any Democratic support?
KAINE: We don’t know that the White House is sending a supplemental. So we had a classified briefing the other day, and the topic came up. What I can say, and it’s not classified, is the administration said they haven’t made a decision. My goals right now are twofold, stop this war, which I view as both illegal and profoundly unwise, and protect our troops. If a supplemental comes over, I’m gonna be looking to see, okay, how does it square with those goals? Protecting the troops is key. That’s one of the reasons I want to stop the war. I think they’re just exposed to a completely unnecessary risk by what President Trump has done. So we’ll look at a supplemental if they send one to see, okay, how does it accomplish those goals?
BRENNAN: Did they tell you what that’s dependent on? Why don’t they know if they need more money? Is it the duration of time of the conflict?
KAINE: I think that’s the issue. You traditionally don’t ask for a supplemental halfway through because you might ask for an inadequate amount. I think they may not want to ask for a supplemental because they’re trying to avoid debates and votes in Congress on the Iran war right now. I put up a war powers vote that I lost earlier this week. But I can assure you, I’m not going away. We have other means to have a debate and discussion about whether this war is in the U.S.’s interest after 25 years of war in the Middle East. They may want to avoid a vote on that and are trying to delay it for that reason. They’ll make that call, and we have to look at the content.
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