WASHINGTON — Nearly the entire Democratic caucus in the Senate is demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provide Congress with a full accounting of the cost of the Iran war along with related budget requests, as frustration grows that the Pentagon is not being forthcoming about the conflict and its fiscal impact.
Forty-six Democratic senators sent a letter to Hegseth early Thursday demanding a detailed breakdown of the cost of military operations against Iran. The letter was spearheaded by Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
While the Pentagon has provided some estimates, it has not detailed the total cost of the war, including how much it would cost to repair damage to U.S. military bases, replace destroyed air and naval assets, and refurbish ships and aircraft ground down by seven months of war.
The lawmakers sent the letter as they consider a Pentagon request for $67 billion in additional funding and amid deepening frustration, among Democrats and some Republicans, over the direction of the war, which appears to be in a stalemate, and the caliber of information the Pentagon is providing members of Congress.
“Despite your stated needs, you have repeatedly refused to share basic information that previous administrations, Republican and Democratic, provided to the American public and Congress during times of war,” the letter states, citing the lack of Pentagon briefings for Congress or the media.
Only Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has faced ongoing questions about leaving the Democratic Party, declined to sign the letter. Fetterman said in a statement to NBC News that his record has been consistent.
“I’ve always been at odds with my fellow Democrats over how we hold Iran accountable. I’ll continue to remain an unapologetic supporter of efforts to confront the Iranian regime and its proxies,” he said.
The Pentagon didn’t immediately comment.
Earlier this week, NBC News reported that the Defense Department inspector general issued its first report on the war, acknowledging a munitions shortage and saying the cost of the conflict was about $33 billion, excluding the repair of damaged facilities and other costs, as of June 30. A Congressional Budget Office report, issued Tuesday, put the cost of the war at $38 billion and concluded that the conflict was driving up inflation for Americans. Critics of those estimates believe they fail to capture the true costs of the war.
During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in late July, Hegseth put the cost of the Iran war so far at $37.5 billion. He said his estimate included payroll, operation, maintenance and other “anticipated” costs through the end of the budget year.
In addition to the true costs of the war, the senators also are requesting a breakdown of the Pentagon’s $67 billion supplemental budget request, as well as an accounting of money spent so far of the roughly $34 billion from the tax and spending bill President Donald Trump signed last year.
In the letter, the senators lamented the lack of public briefings or hearings on the war.
During the first six months of the Iraq War in 2003, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed Congress 20 times, and he briefed the media more than 70 times during the first month of that war, the letter says.
“In stark contrast, you have briefed Congress just seven times in that same period and in those appearances, refused to answer basic questions about the objectives and cost of this war,” the letter to Hegseth says.
Hegseth has briefed the Pentagon press corps eight times since the start of the Iran war in February. The last briefing was in May.
During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the letter said, the Pentagon regularly asked for additional funding, so-called supplementals, and provided Congress with documents detailing the request that were more than 100 pages long.
The Pentagon’s supplemental request for the $67 billion was seven pages and included only vague references to individual items, the letter said, citing a $1.2 billion request for “administration priorities.”
To make the lawmakers’ point, the letter uses Hegseth’s own statement last year saying American taxpayers deserve to know where their money goes and how it’s spent.
“We agree,” the senators write.
