Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday Congress has to “adequately fund defense” amid the military campaign in Iran as he declined to rule out a possible $200 billion emergency Pentagon infusion.
Johnson spoke shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to rule out a supplemental spending request of that size at a morning news conference. The Washington Post first reported the $200 billion figure, which POLITICO has not independently verified.
“I’m sure it’s not a random number,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol, saying he expected any funding request to be “detailed and specified.”
“So we’ll look at that. But obviously it’s a dangerous time in the world and we have to adequately fund defense, and we have a commitment to do that,” he added.
Republicans on Capitol Hill fear the total price tag of the war is climbing rapidly, with the war effort costing more than $1 billion a day by some accounts. But many are still in the dark about how much total funding is needed.
“I don’t know what’s going to come in yet, so everything’s up in the air,” Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) said when asked if he would support such a large funding package. “I can’t qualify any answer for you.”
Several Democrats immediately rejected the suggestion of a $200 billion funding bill out of hand, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declined to say if such a request could pass the House.
Asked if the request should be scaled down before coming to Capitol Hill, he said, “We will have a negotiation at some point.”
“But it hasn’t started yet,” he added. “It will happen soon.”
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