Here’s What Trump’s Iran War Money Could Fund Instead
The price tag from Trump’s war on Iran is enough to reconstruct Gaza, provide healthcare to millions in the US, or end homelessness here at home for years.
Donald Trump is burning through US taxpayer dollars to fund his illegal war abroad after he slashed funding for American public services in every zip code.
According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, Trump’s war on Iran will directly cost American taxpayers an estimated $65 billion – more if it continues for longer than two months – for military operations and replacement of equipment, munitions, and other supplies. The estimated economic loss on top of direct costs ranges from $50 billion to $210 billion, according to the budget model.
The first six days of the war alone already cost over $11 billion, Pentagon officials told Congress in a closed-door briefing Tuesday (though according to Senator Chris Coons, who sits on the appropriations and foreign relations committees, the full toll is even higher.) That’s about how much the federal government spent per week on Medicaid before Trump’s cuts to the program, which insures low-income and disabled Americans.
And the White House is reportedly expected to request $50 billion in supplemental funding to bankroll the war, on top of the Pentagon’s $1.4 trillion budget.
Yet pundits and politicians in Washington who often gripe about the price tag of public service projects have little to say about the costs of Trump’s illegal war in Iran.
Here’s how the federal government could spend $65 billion instead of to bomb Iran:
Ending Homelessness
The Iran war chest could end homelessness in the US for two to six years, according to Scioto Analysis, a public policy analysis firm, which estimates an annual cost of $11-$30 billion.
Homelessness affected 771,480 Americans in 2024, up 18% from the previous year, according to federal data. The National Alliance to End Homelessness says the surge is driven by the affordability crisis – which Trump in December called a Democratic “hoax” after he ran on lowering prices in 2024.