White House Budget Director Refuses to Tell Public About Iran War Costs: “We don’t have that figure right now.”
ICYMI: Senator Murray on President Trump’s FY27 Budget Request
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s full exchange with Russ Vought***
Washington, D.C. — Today—at a Senate Budget Committee hearing with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought on President Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget request—U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Budget Committee and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, slammed Trump’s proposal to slash domestic investments to help pay for a defense spending increase of roughly half a trillion dollars. She pressed Director Vought on the astronomical request for war funding and on what President Trump’s war of choice in Iran has already cost American taxpayers.
In opening comments, Senator Murray said:
“A budget is really an expression of our morals and our values, and frankly, looking at Trump’s latest budget, I don’t see it as a very moral budget. We’re cutting tens of billions of dollars from housing, and health care, and education so we can spend half a trillion dollars more to fund Trump’s foreign wars.
“We should be sending more funding to our schools right here in America, not, in my opinion, buying more missiles that Trump could fire on schools in Iran. We should be building bridges here in America, not destroying them in Iran. And we should be bringing down energy costs, not blowing money on wars that send gas prices for our constituents through the roof.
“So, Director Vought, it will not shock you to hear that I believe that this budget is morally bankrupt. And also, by any objective measure, deeply irresponsible, because it will rob our families and burden our grandkids with mountains of new debt—and for what? For what? So Trump has more bombs he can threaten to ‘end civilizations’ with?
“And also, this budget robs states like mine. It zeros out funding for Howard Hanson dam, once again shortchanges the Hanford cleanup. And now, just to be clear, I rejected those cuts in our last funding bills. I will do it again, as many times as it takes.
“But there is, in my opinion, only one place for this budget—and that is in the trash bin.”
[DEFENSE REQUEST]
Senator Murray called out the absurdity of Vought and Trump’s proposal to gut domestic investments to help pay for a half trillion dollar increase in war funding, and she pressed Vought on reporting that he privately opposed the increase and warned about its deficit impacts. Vought sidestepped the question, and despite his constant claims that he cares deeply about “fiscal responsibility,” Vought said he “fully support[s]” President Trump’s deficit-exploding budget request.
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MURRAY: But having said that, I do have some questions for you. You and President Trump are asking for $450 billion in new defense spending. To be clear, that is the largest increase since World War II—and that does not include money you reportedly still plan to request for the war in Iran. What is the total dollar amount requested for defense spending in FY27—including annual appropriations and reconciliation funds?
VOUGHT: $1.5 trillion, Senator, a combination between the appropriations and the mandatory. We are trying to increase the amount that you would fund through the appropriations, but we don’t want the full increase to have to be born in the appropriations process.
MURRAY: So $1.5 trillion.What is the total dollar amount requested for non-defense spending in FY27?
VOUGHT: $660 billion.
MURRAY: And what is the overall cut to non-defense programs you are proposing?
VOUGHT: 10 percent, $70 billion.
MURRAY: $70 billion—we look at that as about $81 billion, frankly. So let me just say this, Director Vought, you count yourself a spending hawk—and here you are, arguing for a gob smacking $1.5 trillion defense budget. I read that you disagreed with the president on his $1.5 trillion request—warning him that it would explode the deficit. Did you warn the president or administration officials that spending this much on defense would explode the deficit?
VOUGHT: Senator, I fully support this budget. We go through a long policy process. It’s needed for the Department of War. It’s one time, it’s made—it’s designed to have paradigm shifting investments, like I mentioned in my opening comments, to be able to fund now what this president is willing to do, multi-year agreements, and it’s necessary to keep us safe. I mean, I’ve never been more confident that an administration is doing whatever it can to be efficient at the Department of War, but there are bills that need to be paid with regard to drones and munitions and planes.
MURRAY: Well, you can do your political statement later. I will just say for the record that people at home need to understand this president is proposing that we cut over $73 billion in our domestic funding for things like education and health care, that are critical for our economy, for our families, for the future of our country, to help pay for a truly jaw-dropping half a trillion dollars in increase in defense spending. So I just think that we have to all recognize what is going on here and be smart about how we put together a budget as we go forward.
[IRAN WAR COSTS]
Pressed by Senator Murray, Director Vought again refused to provide any information—even a rough estimate—about how many taxpayer dollars have already been spent on President Trump’s reckless war in Iran.
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MURRAY: So let me just ask you, we’re here to talk about next year’s budget obviously, but as we talk about it, this administration is spending billions on the war in Iran as we speak. I heard Senator Merkley ask you a question. I just want to confirm this: you have no idea, none, much has been spent on the war so far?
VOUGHT: We don’t have that figure right now, I think in part, cause it’s fluctuating on a day in, day out basis, but it’s one of the reasons we want to—are studiously reviewing—
MURRAY: You can’t even give us a range?
VOUGHT: No, I’m not going to give you a range cause I don’t want to be inaccurate.
MURRAY: You’re just not going to tell us, because you don’t want us to know how much is being spent. We have a responsibility here, Senator Merkley mentioned that. We have to know how much is spent so we can put our budgets together, so we can make our annual appropriations. And I just find it outrageous that as director, you’re not willing to tell us what those costs are. It’s your job to know.
[BIPARTISAN APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS]
Director Vought also refused to disavow earlier comments he’s made calling for a less bipartisan appropriations process.
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MURRAY: Let me also ask you, you said that ‘the appropriations process has to be less bipartisan.’ Do you stand by that statement?
VOUGHT: Well, that was coming at a time during the rescissions process in which the use of a statutory process was derided by one side as a shot against the bipartisan appropriations process. And it’s not. You pass appropriations bills right now, and they have to get 60 votes to—you all are famously making that point to the country right now, but you also have a congressionally enacted statute that allows us to use rescissions with the majority vote.
MURRAY: Let me just tell you this. As a member of the Appropriations [Committee]—long standing—we work out very difficult differences between each other, and if we can’t trust at the end of the day that a deal is a deal, when we reach those bipartisan agreements, that is going to make it truly impossible for Congress to do its job. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
VOUGHT: Can I respond to that?
CHAIRMAN: Certainly. Chairman’s time, go ahead.
VOUGHT: We had a deal with regard to a bipartisanly negotiated DHS bill that would have funded DHS, and that was walked away from.
MURRAY: Let me make it very clear, I was at the table working on negotiating that. We worked really hard to come to an agreement. Obviously, we are not there yet. The Senate has now passed twice a bill to make progress on that, the House has not taken it up. I will take a backseat to no one on working hard to get the funding done that we need to get done. Thank you.
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