Hickenlooper, Bennet, Colleagues Demand Answers from Trump Admin on Cost of Iran War

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet joined U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin and 43 of their Senate colleagues to demand a full accounting of the costs of President Trump’s reckless war of choice with Iran. The senators also criticized the President’s 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. “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. “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.” Hickenlooper and Bennet are cosponsors of the Honoring the Sacrifices of Our Troops in War Ac t to stop President Trump’s attempts to hide how long his war against Iran has lasted, the true cost of the war, and dishonor the sacrifice of our troops injured and killed in combat. They have repeatedly voted for War Powers Resolutions to end President Trump’s war. On Wednesday, Hickenlooper took to the Senate floor to blast President Trump for personally profiting off his war in Iran that has claimed the lives of 18 servicemembers and cost Americans billions. Hickenlooper has introduced a War Powers Resolution to direct President Trump to terminate U.S. military hostilities against Iran and has voted repeatedly to end the president’s war. Hickenlooper has consistently condemned the administration for sidestepping Congress and dragging America into a war with no clear objective – one that risks American lives and that Americans overwhelmingly oppose . For full text of the letter, click HERE . ###