Durbin Slams Trump Administration’s $88 Billion Supplemental Request While The President, Secretary Hegseth Have No Strategy To End War With Iran

July 27, 2026 Durbin Slams Trump Administration’s $88 Billion Supplemental Request While The President, Secretary Hegseth Have No Strategy To End War With Iran In his speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also called for the release of previously appropriated funds for Ukraine and Baltic nations WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, today delivered a rebuke of the Trump Administration’s excessive supplemental funding request to bankroll the President’s war of choice in Iran. During his remarks, Durbin reiterated that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump have failed to provide any concrete plan of action for ending the war in Iran, yet, with more than $75 billion in unspent money allocated to the Pentagon, they have requested another $88 billion in supplemental funding, which includes $67 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD) to fund this questionable war. Durbin began by recalling his exchange with Secretary Hegseth about the rising cost of the war during last week’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. “I asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to give us the latest accounting of the financial cost of this war. The Secretary estimated that it had cost $37.5 billion…I don’t know how the Secretary arrived at that figure—especially considering the fact that it does not include the costs of repairing heavily damaged U.S. bases in the Middle East which have been attacked by Iran. All this is to say nothing of the cost to our service members, who shoulder the burden of lengthy deployments or most importantly, of the 18 brave Americans that have been tragically killed,” Durbin said. “Now the White House is coming to Congress with an $88 billion supplemental request…This is despite the fact that the Administration already has more than $75 billion in unspent money for the Pentagon…Moreover, if the funding is needed for the war in Iran, the Administration, at a minimum, owes Congress and the American people a plan to end this self-inflicted mess,” Durbin said. Durbin emphasized that Trump Administration officials must put serious effort behind negotiations to end the conflict with Iran. “Make no mistake, Iran is a troubling actor that has for decades threatened America and allied interests. It terribly represses its own people and has not given up on its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. But President Trump’s war with Iran has not resolved either of these issues. All it has done is draw us into a messy foreign entanglement with no clear endgame,” Durbin said. He continued, “A growing number of American troops have been killed and wounded; allies in the region are facing repeated missile attacks; and the global economy has been held hostage by Iran’s totally predictable stranglehold of the Strait of Hormuz. So before this Congress provides billions more, there’s some questions that need to be answered.” Durbin then spoke about the ongoing war in Ukraine, and he called on the Trump Administration to take advantage of the possibility that Russia is a position to engage with negotiations to end the war. “The war in Ukraine has turned a corner, with the real possibility for the first time in over four years that Russia will be finally forced to negotiate. I was at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye, earlier this month with several colleagues, including Senators Shaheen, Coons, the late Lindsey Graham, and Rounds, and the message was clear: momentum is with Ukraine and this is the time for American and European support to step up,” Durbin said. “But amid this shift, Ukraine desperately needs more air defenses to protect civilians from brutal Russian attacks. Unfortunately, too many of these air defenses have been needed in the Gulf for President Trump’s other war in Iran,” Durbin said. Despite Russia’s continued aggression toward Ukraine, the Trump Administration has held up $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine and $200 million in Baltic Security Initiative funds that were appropriated by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2026 defense appropriations bill. Durbin has repeatedly pressed the Trump Administration about why this funding has been stalled, and he has urged Administration officials to immediately obligate and disburse the funding. “Ukraine still has not received the $400 million that we appropriated in the last year’s appropriations bill. They’re still waiting on it. I asked Secretary Hegseth why the Pentagon is taking so long to send this critical aid to Ukraine. He didn’t have a good answer,” Durbin said. “President Trump needs to send the $400 million funds immediately as it’s desperately needed to stop the Russian advances. Doing so will help bring President Putin to the negotiating table.” Durbin concluded his floor speech by calling for the passage of the late Senator Graham’s (R-SC) legislation to support Ukraine in this war. “It is also overdue for this chamber to act on Russia and Ukraine legislation, which Lindsey Graham was passionate about…Senator Graham understood the timeliness of this legislation to help force Russians to negotiate. He worked hard to find agreement on this bill—months and months of work with Senators Blumenthal and Shaheen. I know the Majority Leader cares about helping Ukraine, so I’m glad the bill is set to move this week,” Durbin concluded his remarks. Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here . Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here . Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations. -30- Print Email Share Tweet