Congress
Congress must ‘adequately’ fund defense, Johnson says, amid talk of $200 billion war request
Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday Congress has to “adequately fund defense” amid the military campaign in Iran as he declined to rule out a possible $200 billion emergency Pentagon infusion.
Johnson spoke shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to rule out a supplemental spending request of that size at a morning news conference. The Washington Post first reported the $200 billion figure, which Blue Light News has not independently verified.
“I’m sure it’s not a random number,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol, saying he expected any funding request to be “detailed and specified.”
“So we’ll look at that. But obviously it’s a dangerous time in the world and we have to adequately fund defense, and we have a commitment to do that,” he added.
Republicans on Capitol Hill fear the total price tag of the war is climbing rapidly, with the war effort costing more than $1 billion a day by some accounts. But many are still in the dark about how much total funding is needed.
“I don’t know what’s going to come in yet, so everything’s up in the air,” Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) said when asked if he would support such a large funding package. “I can’t qualify any answer for you.”
Several Democrats immediately rejected the suggestion of a $200 billion funding bill out of hand, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise declined to say if such a request could pass the House.
Asked if the request should be scaled down before coming to Capitol Hill, he said, “We will have a negotiation at some point.”
“But it hasn’t started yet,” he added. “It will happen soon.”
The House will begin consideration of a bipartisan housing bill Tuesday, with a final vote potentially taking place the same day, accelerating a previous plan to secure congressional passage of the legislation, according to four people familiar with the planning granted anonymity to discuss planning not yet public.
The Senate will hold a final vote on the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Monday.
House leadership had planned to fast-track approval of the housing affordability bill by suspending the rules, a maneuver that limits debate but requires a two-thirds majority vote, as soon as Wednesday, but are looking to move that process a day earlier, the people said.
President Donald Trump is expected to hold a signing ceremony for the bill as soon as Wednesday, said two people familiar, involved with the planning conversations.
The housing bill aims to tackle housing affordability and boost homeownership and supply as the looming midterm election is dominated by cost-of-living concerns and Congress has a narrowing window to get legislation through before the August recess.
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Alan Dershowitz is scheduled to speak with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 20 as part of its ongoing Jeffery Epstein investigation.
“I asked to be allowed to set the record straight and correct various misconceptions,” Dershowitz said in a text message. “I look forward to doing so.”
The prominent criminal defense attorney who once represented O.J. Simpson and President Donald Trump also worked on Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, which many have argued allowed Epstein — who died by suicide behind bars in 2019 — to continue to prey on young women and girls for another several years before his later incarceration.
The Oversight Committee is separately set Friday to interview investor Leon Black, whose business dealings with Epstein have been under congressional scrutiny for years.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to give a classified briefing Wednesday to a group of House Republicans about the administration’s goals for military funding and another party-line reconciliation bill, according to three people granted anonymity to describe a private meeting.
The gathering will take place during the Republican Study Committee’s weekly lunch and be held in the House SCIF, underscoring the potentially sensitive nature of Hegseth’s planned presentation.
Lawmakers are expected to also press Hegseth on the agreement the Trump administration has reached with Iran to end the war.
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- In back-to-back reversals, the Trump administration folds under pressure
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