Bennet, Slotkin, Colleagues Demand Answers from Hegseth on Cost of Iran War

About About Michael Legislation News Press Releases Social Media Newsletter Archive Services Priorities Top Issues Child Tax Credit Investing in Colorado Contact Map Español Acerca de Michael Escribe a Michael Prioridades Servicios Visitando D.C. Bennet, Slotkin, Colleagues Demand Answers from Hegseth on Cost of Iran War President Trump’s Pentagon Has Greatly Underestimated the Iran War’s Costs  Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, joined U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and 43 Senate colleagues, including fellow Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, to demand a full accounting of the costs of President Trump’s reckless […] Sep 25, 2026 | Press Releases President Trump’s Pentagon Has Greatly Underestimated the Iran War’s Costs Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, joined U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and 43 Senate colleagues, including fellow Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, to demand a full accounting of the costs of President Trump’s reckless war of choice with Iran. The senators criticized the President’s hand-picked Department of Defense leadership for withholding basic budget information from Congress and the American public, even as U.S. casualties and taxpayer costs continue to increase. The United States is now more than six months into a conflict President Trump initially said would last six weeks. NineteenAmerican servicemembers have been killed and more than 820 wounded, and over 50,000 troops are currently deployed to the Middle East. In the letter, the senators note that deployments have been repeatedly extended, and that their offices have heard directly from military families worried about loved ones serving in the conflict. “Meanwhile, at home, American taxpayers have already paid an extra $100 billion out of their pockets for higher gas and diesel prices alone and at least another $60 billion in higher costs for things like groceries, mortgages, and plane tickets as a result of the war,” wrote the senators. “Now you are asking that they pay again to fund a war of choice that Congress never authorized and the President launched with no strategic plan.” In their letter, the senators highlight the contrast between the current Pentagon’s transparency record with past wartime practice, noting that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has briefed Congress only seven times in six months and held just eight Pentagon press briefings or interviews since the war began, compared to more than 70 press briefings in the first month of the Iraq War alone. The senators also criticized the administration’s public supplemental funding request as a seven-page document offering only vague line items, in contrast to the detailed, hundred-page supplemental requests provided to Congress during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The senators requested that the Department of Defense provide: A detailed breakdown of all direct and indirect costs of military operations against Iran to date, including damage to installations, aircraft, and equipment. A full accounting of the $67 billion supplemental request, specifying what covers past costs versus future operations. A detailed plan for how the Pentagon intends to spend the remaining $34 billion from the sprawling 2025 Republican reconciliation bill, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act . “Despite asking for tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars, you have so far failed to provide basic information on how this money has and will be spent,” continued the senators. “Congress must have access to this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities. It is the bare minimum that any American would expect in balancing their own household budget.” Bennet has persistently fought to rein in President Trump’s unauthorized war with Iran. In August 2026, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and 15 of their Senate Democratic colleagues to introduce legislation that would stop the Trump administration from obscuring the true cost of President Trump’s disastrous war from the American people. Bennet has voted for several War Powers Resolutions directing the President to end his war with Iran. Bennet also joined U.S. Representative Brittany Pettersen and the Colorado Democratic delegation in a letter to Trump demanding answers about his administration’s plan to lower gasoline prices, which the President spiked by launching his reckless war with Iran. In March 2026, Bennet also questioned President Trump’s intelligence agency leaders, including Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe, about Trump’s failure to act on assessments regarding a war with Iran. In addition to Bennet, Hickenlooper, and Slotkin, U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantw