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In this aerial handout picture released by the Iranian Press Center, mourners dig graves during the funeral for children killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran's Hormozgan province in Minab on March 3, 2026. Iranian media have reported hundreds of Iranian casualties, including at a girl's school, although AFP reporters have not been able to verify tolls independently.
(Photo by Iranian Press Center / AFP via Getty Images)
$200 Billion for Trump's Iran War Is Beyond Grotesque
Every Member of Congress should announce, right now, that they will reject this monstrous war funding proposal.
Mar 20, 2026
The Trump administration’s planned $200 billion war spending request is grotesque beyond words.
It should properly be understood not just as a request to replenish supplies, but to expand, escalate, and perpetuate the illegal, unconstitutional, unpopular and devastating war on Iran. Congress should understand that approving any portion of this funding opens the gates for one, two, and potentially many more war funding requests in the future.
How dare the administration propose this gargantuan sum to expand an illegal war of choice at the same time it has rammed through deep cuts in health care and food assistance, refuses to spend foreign assistance at a cost of millions of lives, and has cut spending on protecting clean air, maintaining our national parks, investing in health research, protecting consumers from fraud, and so much more.
Two hundred billion dollars is enough to materially change the lives of Americans and truly make our country stronger. It would be enough to restore food assistance to the four million Americans and Medicaid to the 15 million Americans who will lose those crucial supports under the Republican reconciliation bill; establish universal pre-K education; pay for the annual construction of more than 100,000 units of housing; double the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency; and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing.
Every Member of Congress should announce, right now, that they will reject this monstrous war funding proposal, before it is formalized.
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Robert Weissman
Robert Weissman is the president of Public Citizen. Weissman was formerly director of Essential Action, editor of Multinational Monitor, a magazine that tracks corporate actions worldwide, and a public interest attorney at the Center for Study of Responsive Law. He was a leader in organizing the 2000 IMF and World Bank protests in D.C. and helped make HIV drugs available to the developing world.
The Trump administration’s planned $200 billion war spending request is grotesque beyond words.
It should properly be understood not just as a request to replenish supplies, but to expand, escalate, and perpetuate the illegal, unconstitutional, unpopular and devastating war on Iran. Congress should understand that approving any portion of this funding opens the gates for one, two, and potentially many more war funding requests in the future.
How dare the administration propose this gargantuan sum to expand an illegal war of choice at the same time it has rammed through deep cuts in health care and food assistance, refuses to spend foreign assistance at a cost of millions of lives, and has cut spending on protecting clean air, maintaining our national parks, investing in health research, protecting consumers from fraud, and so much more.
Two hundred billion dollars is enough to materially change the lives of Americans and truly make our country stronger. It would be enough to restore food assistance to the four million Americans and Medicaid to the 15 million Americans who will lose those crucial supports under the Republican reconciliation bill; establish universal pre-K education; pay for the annual construction of more than 100,000 units of housing; double the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency; and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing.
Every Member of Congress should announce, right now, that they will reject this monstrous war funding proposal, before it is formalized.
From Your Site Articles
Robert Weissman
Robert Weissman is the president of Public Citizen. Weissman was formerly director of Essential Action, editor of Multinational Monitor, a magazine that tracks corporate actions worldwide, and a public interest attorney at the Center for Study of Responsive Law. He was a leader in organizing the 2000 IMF and World Bank protests in D.C. and helped make HIV drugs available to the developing world.
The Trump administration’s planned $200 billion war spending request is grotesque beyond words.
It should properly be understood not just as a request to replenish supplies, but to expand, escalate, and perpetuate the illegal, unconstitutional, unpopular and devastating war on Iran. Congress should understand that approving any portion of this funding opens the gates for one, two, and potentially many more war funding requests in the future.
How dare the administration propose this gargantuan sum to expand an illegal war of choice at the same time it has rammed through deep cuts in health care and food assistance, refuses to spend foreign assistance at a cost of millions of lives, and has cut spending on protecting clean air, maintaining our national parks, investing in health research, protecting consumers from fraud, and so much more.
Two hundred billion dollars is enough to materially change the lives of Americans and truly make our country stronger. It would be enough to restore food assistance to the four million Americans and Medicaid to the 15 million Americans who will lose those crucial supports under the Republican reconciliation bill; establish universal pre-K education; pay for the annual construction of more than 100,000 units of housing; double the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency; and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing.
Every Member of Congress should announce, right now, that they will reject this monstrous war funding proposal, before it is formalized.
From Your Site Articles
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