Vance, House GOP push politically risky Iran war funding

Erik Wasson, Bloomberg News on Jul 15, 2026

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Congressional Republicans are moving forward with a plan to ramp up spending on President Donald Trump’s ongoing war with Iran despite the political risks of backing an unpopular military campaign that has spiked consumer prices.

Vice President JD Vance is meeting privately with House Republicans in a basement room of the Capitol Wednesday afternoon to rally the GOP behind the measure, which calls for $95 billion in new spending with $73 billion to pay for Iran-related costs. Representative Dusty Johnson said Vance urged lawmakers to pass the funding before they leave for their August break and stressed the White House backs it.

“He’s answering very detailed questions and making some headway,” Johnson told reporters during a break from the meeting.

The timing of the funding measure heightens the danger for vulnerable Republicans representing competitive districts since the midterm elections are only months away and escalating hostilities are again driving up oil prices at a time voters are focused on the cost of living.

The spending plan, unveiled earlier Wednesday by House Republicans, also would provide $12 billion in new aid to farmers, a key Republican constituency that has been financially squeezed by higher costs from the Iran war and Trump’s trade conflicts. There is also $10 billion for elections, likely to be given to states that implement tighter identity documentation requirements for voters sought by Trump.

The spending plan has stoked internal Republican tensions over its impact on the budget deficit. In recent weeks, conservatives pushed for spending cuts to offset the extra funding but they were rebuffed by House Speaker Mike Johnson and his team after moderates balked at additional cuts to the social safety net.

“Safeguarding American elections and strengthening our national defense are the most basic responsibilities of Congress and are supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans,” Johnson said in a statement.

The party plans to use an arcane budget process to ram the budget bill through the House and Senate by September without any support from Democrats, who with few exceptions oppose the Iran war.

It is not yet clear if the plan has enough backing in the Senate. Some military hawks have pushed to fully fund a $350 billion Pentagon boost requested by the White House earlier in the year before the administration made a more limited $67 billion emergency Iran war funding request in recent weeks. Deficit hawks had pushed for either amount to be offset by cuts in entitlement programs.

Democrats pounce

Democrats plan to use the pre-election votes on war funding in the fall campaign, tying it to the spike in consumer energy prices that the conflict with Iran has sparked. Some 60% of Americans say the war against Iran has not been worth it while only 34% said the military action has been worth it, according to a Quinnipiac Poll last month.

Pennsylvania Representative Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, tied the effort to last year’s $4 trillion Trump tax and budget bill, containing tax cuts that skew toward the wealthy even as it added to the national debt and cut Medicaid and food stamp funding.

“Republicans have already made life worse for American families and added trillions to the national debt. Now, this ‘America Last’ budget would add tens of billions more to the national debt to fund the most unpopular war in American history,” Boyle said in a statement.

Some Republicans also blasted the spending plan.

Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina condemned it in a social media post as “$95 billion in new deficit spending, no offsets, and not one provision to lower the cost of living.”

Ohio Republican Warren Davidson said the plan was likely dead on arrival for lack of spending cuts. Texas Republican Chip Roy said the legislation still “needs work.”

House Republicans can only afford three defections on the party-line budget outline.

The voter documentation portion of the bill is an attempt to mollify Trump and hardline conservatives in the party who want to see Congress require proof of citizenship to vote. Democrats in the Senate have blocked that effort, arguing that the documentation requirements will prevent voting by citizens who lack a passport and easy access to birth certificates while creating implementation snarls at the polls.

The likely grants program in the bill is a watered-down version of the Trump-backed Save America Act, which the president has demanded for months. Trump has said he will not sign any legislation from Congress until it is passed.

Due to Senate rules, a measure requiring states to implement voter identification likely cannot be included in a fast-track budget bill that must relate to fiscal matters. It is not yet clear if restive House conservatives will settle for the grants provision and vote for the budget when it comes to the House floor next week.

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