By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, Annie Grayer, Lauren Fox, Zachary Cohen, CNN
(CNN) — Cracks are emerging among congressional Republicans over the Iran war with key lawmakers skeptical about spending hundreds of billions of dollars to prolong the conflict and several refusing to support any money without a clear White House strategy.
In the coming weeks, President Donald Trump could ask Congress to spend as much as $200 billion to fund the ongoing war. But it will be enormously difficult to pass. GOP leaders do not believe they have the votes to fund the war even in their own party without far more detailed plans from the White House, according to multiple people involved in those preliminary discussions.
Trump previewed the funding request on Thursday, saying he wants to ensure the military has “vast amounts of ammunition” but without offering specifics on what the Pentagon needed the funding for.
“We want to be in the best shape, the best shape we’ve ever been in,” Trump said from the Oval Office Thursday. “It’s a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top.”
The Pentagon has asked the White House to approve a request to Congress for over $200 billion in additional military funding to fund the ongoing war, according to two sources familiar with the matter. It will likely be days, if not weeks, before that request comes to Congress. Yet already, many lawmakers – even some Republicans – appear skeptical of approving such a large sum, particularly since the Trump administration has yet to seek Capitol Hill’s approval for the war with Iran, which is about to enter its fourth week. The White House and Pentagon have yet to articulate a clear timeline for ending military operations, which is a major concern inside the Capitol, sources said.
The supplemental funding request would, in part, be used to help offset munitions expenditures and operations costs from the conflict — which totaled roughly $11 billion during just the first week of military strikes alone, the sources said. Some of the requested funding could also go toward other areas not directly associated with the Iran war, both sources added – an accounting maneuver the Pentagon has used before to fund defense projects.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday morning the figure could change because “it takes money to kill bad guys.” But he and other administration officials will need to make a hard sell to their own party about quickly approving that request.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, told CNN she would not support more money for Iran under any circumstance.
“I am a no. I have already told leadership. I am a no on any war supplemental. I am so tired of spending money over there,” Boebert told CNN. “I have folks in Colorado who can’t afford to live. We need America first policies right now.”
So far, Boebert is an outlier in her party. But plenty more Republicans told CNN they are increasingly anxious about whether the US is being dragged into an “endless war” that Trump himself ran against. Several said they would only consider the Iran funding request if the White House better explains its plans — including the possibility of thousands of US troops being sent to the Middle East.
“What are we doing? We’re talking about boots on the ground. We’re talking about that kind of extended activity. Now we’re in a whole ‘nother zip code,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a fiscal hawk who has long scrutinized Pentagon spending, told CNN. “They got a whole lot more briefing and a whole lot more explaining to do on how we’re going to pay for it and what’s the mission here?”
Fellow fiscal hawk, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, added: “It begs the question, how long do