The bill also pushes states to impose restrictions on voting rights as people struggle to afford food.
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House Republicans on Wednesday approved a $95 billion budget framework that would pump more money into President Donald Trump’s illegal Iran war and push states to impose voting restrictions as Americans struggle to afford food and other essentials.
All House Democrats present and just three members of the GOP caucus – Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Kevin Kiley of California – voted against the budget measure, which would re-engage the filibuster-proof reconciliation process that the Republican majority has used to push through tax cuts for the rich, attacks on safety net programs and other unpopular agenda items.
The new budget proposal, whose prospects are becoming more difficult in the narrowly Republican-controlled Senate, includes up to $73 billion in additional funding for the US military, mainly for the Iran war. The measure also includes $10 billion to encourage states to adopt voter ID requirements, one of the Trump administration’s top priorities ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Leor Tal, campaign manager for the Unrig Our Economy coalition, said in response to Wednesday’s vote that “Republicans in Congress have once again chosen to choose their unnecessary war in Iran over the American people.”
“It is outrageous that any member of Congress would vote to put a penny of taxpayer money into this war that is driving up costs for Americans and costing soldiers their lives,” Tal said. “By voting for this budget resolution, Republicans are saying that this war is more important than cutting costs for Americans. It is time for Republicans in Congress to put an end to this seemingly endless war.”
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Trump also said support for the war was strong among Americans – a claim that several polls show is false.
Analysts put the financial cost of the Iran war so far at about $1,100 per American household, due to higher prices for energy, food and other essential goods. As families across the country suffer from food aid cuts under a previous Republican budget package, a recent poll found that two-thirds of Americans say they would describe the cost of food as unaffordable – up from 45% before the U.S. attack on Iran.
The budget measure passed by House Republicans on Wednesday would do nothing to ease the country’s worsening cost of living crisis, which Trump has repeatedly dismissed as a hoax by his political opponents.
“With grocery bills rising and gas prices skyrocketing at the pump, working families are struggling to make ends meet, and Republicans have no plan for them,” Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said Wednesday. “Taxpayer dollars should be used to support the American people, not to double down on this President’s failed agenda and foreign wars. Congress must cut funding for the war before more Americans are killed and not give the Pentagon a multi-billion dollar blank check.”
In a separate vote Wednesday, House Republicans voted to approve an unprecedented $1.15 trillion military budget for the coming fiscal year. Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, said in a joint statement: “As millions of Americans struggle to afford basic necessities, Congress chooses to appropriate over $1 trillion for the Pentagon, once again funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to defense contractors instead of investing in the needs of working people.”
“The American people are tired of funding atrocities abroad and want this war with Iran to end,” Omar and Pocan said. “Yet year after year, with virtually no accountability, the Pentagon fails its audit while Congress continues to increase military spending. We should be investing in affordable housing, health care, education and good-paying jobs – not in funding defense contractors.”
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