Kaine, Colleagues Urge Nonpartisan Congressional Scorekeeper To Determine True Cost Of Iran War

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, joined 19 Senate colleagues in urging the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to determine the true cost of war in Iran and set the record straight regarding inaccurate and incomplete estimates by the Trump-Vance Administration.

"We are concerned that the administration has not been fully truthful or transparent in its public accounting of the war's costs so far," wrote the senators in a letter to CBO Director Phillip Swagel. "…The discrepancies between the administration's public cost estimates and those produced by independent analysts are especially concerning in light of the administration's stated intention to submit a supplemental funding request for as much as $200 billion."

"The American people deserve to know the true costs of this conflict, and they deserve transparency and honesty when their government commits the nation to war. Your timely and comprehensive estimate of the immediate and long-term budgetary consequences will help ensure that the Iran war remains subject to rigorous and appropriate legislative oversight," they concluded.

In addition to Kaine, the letter was signed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).

Full text of the letter is available here.

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