U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and 45 Senate colleagues are demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provide Congress with a detailed accounting of spending on the war with Iran, including a proposed $67 billion supplemental request.
The New York Democrat said the Pentagon has not provided enough information about direct and indirect military costs, equipment losses or how it intends to use money already approved by Congress. Gillibrand is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The senators asked the Department of Defense to separate costs already incurred from money sought for future operations. They also requested a spending plan for a remaining $34 billion that they said was provided through a broader federal spending law.
“Congress must have access to this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities,” the senators wrote, according to a release from Gillibrand’s office.
Letter cites casualties, deployments and household costs
Gillibrand’s office said the conflict has lasted more than six months, with 18 U.S. service members killed, more than 820 wounded and over 50,000 troops deployed to the Middle East. Those figures were presented by the senators and were not accompanied by an independent Pentagon response in the release.
The letter also blamed the conflict for an estimated $100 billion in higher gasoline and diesel costs and at least $60 billion in other household expenses, including groceries, mortgages and airline tickets. The release did not provide the underlying methodology for those estimates.
Gillibrand and the other senators criticized the level of Pentagon briefings and said a seven-page supplemental request lacked the detail Congress received during earlier wars. They asked for information about damage to military installations, aircraft and equipment as well as the projected cost of continuing operations.
The letter was signed largely by Senate Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, along with independent Sens. Angus King and Bernie Sanders. It did not include a response from Hegseth or the Department of Defense.
Gillibrand has previously criticized extended Middle East deployments and pressed the administration for more information about military casualties and conditions facing deployed service members. The new letter focuses on financial oversight and the administration’s request for additional funding.
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