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The Trump administration is struggling to convince GOP lawmakers to back President Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget in addition to tens of billions of dollars to fund the Iran war.
Both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were on Capitol Hill Wednesday to shore up support for the request, among other issues, with the Pentagon chief giving a classified briefing to dozens of House Republicans before meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Hegseth’s latest trip to the Capitol, one of several over the past month, underscores the administration’s uphill climb in convincing Republicans to approve massive defense spending requests at a time when there is little appetite for such legislation.
Trump has frequently pressed Congress to approve $350 billion in defense funding as part of a third reconciliation bill in addition to $1.15 trillion for the Pentagon’s base budget.
The White House this week also asked Congress for nearly $88 billion, mostly to cover the Iran war. This includes backfilling highly sophisticated munitions whose stockpiles had been dwindling since before the conflict.
Republicans could in theory pass a new reconciliation bill on their own, if they can unify around one. It is not subject to a Senate filibuster.
But they would need Democrats to back a supplemental.
For now, several top GOP lawmakers are noncommittal on either, at a time when many of their constituents are struggling to make ends meet.
Lawmakers are “still having conversations about the math and whether it adds up,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a leader of the Freedom Caucus and a fiscal hawk, told reporters following the classified briefing.
Roy also questioned where tens of billions of dollars for an Iran supplemental would be pulled from, indicating his support would be contingent on dollar-for-dollar cuts elsewhere.
He said the administration is talking about “new” defense money “for munitions, for back pay, for the war … where’s that money coming from?”
“My view is that has to be dollar-for-dollar,” he said.
The $87.6 billion supplemental officially dropped Wednesday and includes $67 billion for the Defense Department in addition to $2 billion for the Coast Guard in relation to Operation Epic Fury, the official name for the Iran war, according to a copy obtained by The Hill.
Another $40 million is requested to fund the FBI for Epic Fury and other classified programs, and $95.5 million for the Department of Energy, also for Epic Fury.
The administration also wants $300 million for embassy security and restoring U.S. facilities damaged during the Iran war in Bahrain, Dubai, Karachi, Lahore and Riyadh.
Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), when asked about the Iran supplemental and reconciliation 3.0, said he wants to see the “package first and pay-fors.”
“I demand pay-fors,” Self said, referring to provisions included in a bill meant to offset the cost of new spending to ensure that the federal deficit does not increase.
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), the chair of the Republican Study Committee, said the lawmakers had a “really good substantive” conversation with Hegseth on reconciliation 3.0, and the Pentagon chief is pushing Republicans in Congress “very hard” to “make that investment.”
“We know that this is important,” Pfluger told reporters. “We know that Democrats are going to vote against it, and I think the conservatives are leading the charge to make sure that future generations have the resources, have the weapons systems, are trained and are out to make sure that they defend this country.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a conservative fiscal hawk, indicated it would be easier to give the Pentagon more money if it passed a clean audit, something Hegseth has pledged to do by 2028.
But Burchett was among the more optimistic that Congress could push through all the defense dollars, predicting that most of the holdouts over Iran funding will “roll over.”
Hegseth, who did not answer questions after leaving the Republican Study Committee meeting, acknowledged that the nation’s rising debt is an issue but argued in an op-ed for the New York Post that the biggest threat to U.S. national security is underinvestment in military spending.
“If America loses its unquestioned military edge, no amount of fiscal austerity can maintain this nation’s economic health,” Hegseth wrote in the Tuesday piece.
Rep Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said “ideally” the defense request would include pay-fors but questioned where those offsets could be found.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who has clashed with Hegseth on several Pentagon personnel and policy decisions, said the defense secretary made an “effective case” for the defense portion of reconciliation and that he is supportive of it, arguing it is imperative to spike the share of gross domestic product spending on defense.
But he said if the Pentagon wants his vote for reconciliation, the Pentagon needs to replace the Army brigade in Poland of 4,000 troops that was canceled by Hegseth.
“He has yet to put out a plan how he’s going to do it,” Bacon, who also sits on Armed Services Committee, told reporters.
Trump overruled Hegseth, announcing in May that the U.S. will be sending 5,000 service members to the Central European country.
“This is a two-way street working with Congress,” Bacon said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee, said lawmakers need to deliberate whether the reconciliation top line would be $350 million, $250 million or $150 million, but emphasized that offsets are the “centerpiece” of reconciliation and budget resolution.
“Our commitment is at a minimum that we’re not going to increase the deficit, that it’ll be a cost-neutral proposition at worst, and at best we reduce the deficit, that’s all going to revolve around basically the anti-fraud provisions,” Arrington told reporters. “There may be some other savers, but the lion’s share” are anti-fraud provisions.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Chip Roy Don Bacon Keith Self Mike Johnson Pete Hegseth Rich McCormick Tim BurchettCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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