Trump Administration Asks Congress for $70 Billion for Iran War After Heated GOP Meeting

US President Donald Trump clashed loudly with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy in a closed door meeting on Wednesday, as growing frustration inside his own party over the Iran war boiled over.

Several senators who attended said Trump and Cassidy exchanged raised voices after Cassidy pushed back on the framework deal Trump signed last week one that gives Iran financial incentives but, according to critics, falls short of the goals the administration set at the start of the war.

“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters afterward. “It does not appear that the course of this is going the way that we were told.”

Senate Votes to Block War Powers Resolution — Then White House Asks for $70 Billion

Hours after the confrontation, Senate Republican leaders scheduled a late night vote to block a resolution calling for an end to hostilities with Iran. The Senate voted 50 to 47, largely along party lines, to kill the measure. Two Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — broke with their party and voted with Democrats in favor of the resolution.

Later that same evening, the Trump administration asked Congress for $70 billion to cover the cost of the war, on top of the existing $867 billion military budget.

The Deal Is Facing Pushback at Home and Abroad

Regional allies are also uneasy. Gulf states that came under Iranian attack during the war view the deal as too generous to Tehran it includes a $300 billion reconstruction fund and partial sanctions relief. The accord does not address Iran’s ballistic missile program and only requires free passage through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, after which Iran has suggested it may impose tolls.

Meanwhile in Washington, Lebanon and Israel are separately discussing a US backed plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from parts of southern Lebanon and hand control to the Lebanese army. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will not pull its troops out.