The Trump government has demanded a war budget of 80 billion dollars from the Parliament.
On one hand, officials of America and Iran are holding peace talks and are adopting the method of negotiation to reach a conclusion. On the other hand, the American Defense Ministry has made such a demand to the American Congress, which has shocked the whole world. Yes, the Pentagon has told the senators that it needs about 80 billion US dollars i.e. Rs 7.50 lakh crore, most of which will be to meet the expenses of the American war against Iran.
This would further increase the massive military spending already sought by President Donald Trump. The White House Management and Budget Office has not yet made a formal request to Congress. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to meet with people on Capitol Hill, including meetings on Monday evening.
The AP reported that a senior deputy secretary of the Defense Department briefed senators last week about the funding request for Iran, two people familiar with the situation said on condition of anonymity. This development was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The special thing is that this budget is more than 3 times the total budget of India’s Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Under which free ration is distributed to more than 80 crore people of the country. It can also be understood that the budget demanded by the Pentagon can satisfy the hunger of about 250 crore people of the world for one year.
Lawmakers doubt demand for funds for Pentagon
The demand for billions of dollars of funding for the Iran war is being made at a time when the political environment is tense. Lawmakers are skeptical of Trump’s deal with Iran to end the war and are cautious about further steps. The White House has asked for a whopping US$1.5 trillion for the Pentagon – nearly 50 percent more than the current fiscal year’s funding level.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he expected to receive a request for additional spending from the administration for the war, and when it comes, “we’ll work on it and see where the votes are. Thune said we have to make sure that we do everything we can to replace the vast majority of our arms and ammunition and supplies that have been depleted – not just because of what’s happening with Iran, but before that, too.”
Defense Department Deputy Secretary Stephen Feinberg spoke with several senators by phone last week about the proposal, and he informed congressional committees that the $80 billion request has been sent to the Office of Management and Budget. No official statement has come from the Pentagon in this matter.
However, this funding package will certainly face resistance from lawmakers who refuse to support Trump’s decision to go to war and are hesitant to give more money to the Pentagon at a time when the cost of living for Americans in the country is very high.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray told Hegseth at a hearing last month that you are spending families’ hard-earned tax money on a war that many people strongly oppose.
Trump asks for record 1.5 trillion dollars for defense
In addition to the funds for Iran, Republicans hope to secure about $1.1 trillion through the regular budget process, which typically requires bipartisan support for approval. After that, they hope to secure an additional $350 billion through a mostly party-line vote later this summer.
The amount the Pentagon is asking for is much higher than the $29 billion estimate of war spending that Hegseth gave during his testimony before Congress last month. Most of that money was related to ammunition replacement and equipment repairs, but it also included the operational costs of keeping the army deployed. That estimate did not include the cost of repairing or rebuilding damaged US military bases in the area.
This is much less than the initial $200 billion that the Pentagon had estimated at the beginning of the war. An initial estimate put the cost of the first week of the war at $11.3 billion. Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, a member of the Democratic Party leadership, said he expected actual spending to be much higher than the proposed $80 billion.
Budget three times more than this scheme of India
The special thing is that the Pentagon has demanded 80 billion dollars from the Congress. In that amount, India can distribute free ration to 80 crore more people of its country for three consecutive years. Yes, the budget of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in India for the financial year 2027 is Rs 2,27,429 crore, which is more than the 80 billion dollars demanded by the Pentagon for the war i.e. Rs 7,57,2,29 crore. Trump’s government has demanded more than 3 times the annual budget of India’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for the war from the US Parliament. If we implement this scheme all over the world, then free ration can be distributed to about 250 crore people for a year for 80 billion dollars. This means that the hunger of poor people can be quenched.
