Murphy on Iran War Cost: We Could Be Funding Education, Health Care, National Parks With This Money

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Tuesday spoke alongside his Democratic Senate colleagues as they successfully advanced their War Powers Resolution to end the Iran War. In his speech, Murphy called on President Trump and Senate Republicans to turn their focus back towards the American people and fix the affordability crisis this war has unleashed. Murphy also highlighted the breathtakingly corrupt $1.7 billion settlement the president is using as a slush fund for his political allies, taken directly from the taxpaying working families that are bearing the everyday costs of this war.

Murphy debunked the Trump administration's dishonest, lowball estimates of the Iran War's cost: "In hearings last week, the administration suggested that the cost of the war is about $29 billion. To most military experts, that just didn't pass the straight face test, the smell test, and in fact, one group of experts actually did an accounting based upon what they know of the costs of an engagement like this. They said it looks to be about $15 billion in mobilization, administration, and combat costs, general operations costs. $41 billion when you look at all of the weapons that have been expended, about $12 billion in losses, damages, destroyed assets… another $3 billion or so supporting our partners in the region. That's about $72 billion that has been spent, just in the first seventy, eighty days of war."

He gave specific examples of how the $72 billion wasted on this war could have been used to deliver better public amenities for Americans: "The National Park System needs about $2 billion to operate. Their entire budget of deferred maintenance, if you wanted to fix everything that's broken in the National Park Service, how much would it cost? It would cost $33 billion. So, half of what we have spent on the Iran war could fix up every national park in the country to tip top shape."

He argued thousands of lives could have been saved with this money: "If we had taken this money that we've spent in just two and a half months of war and applied it to medical research, we would double this year's budget for medical research. If you doubled the NIH and CDC budget this year, I guarantee you, we'd cure at least one disease, we'd find a treatment years ahead of schedule, we'd save lives, thousands of lives. But instead, we're spending this money on a war that is making us less safe and driving up costs for millions of Americans."

Murphy detailed how gas price spikes are hitting families and small businesses hardest, in many cases making it impossible for them to get by: "Of course, we are seeing billions of dollars having been spent by businesses, by farms, by consumers, because gas prices are out of control. This week, they will probably hit $5 a gallon in Connecticut. That will put a lot of my small businesses out of business, if gas prices remain at $5 through this summer. There will be lots of families in my state who, for the first 60 days, were probably able to manage that extra cost. Who are going to have to cancel a week or two or three of summer camp for their kids this summer because they're going to have to make a choice as to whether I fill up my tank to get to work or whether my kids get to go to basketball camp. Those are the decisions that families are going to make."

He called out Trump's inadequate efforts to resolve the Iran crisis, exposing the president's real priority is using the executive branch to line his own pockets: "The president is not spending his time right now trying to end this war. Reports are that the president has become bored of the Iran war, and that's why we're in a stalemate. What is he interested in? Well, we found out this week… Instead of ending the Iran war, instead of trying to do something about these spiraling prices and costs that are being borne by families and the federal government, the president has spent the last few weeks reaching his hand into the Treasury, stealing from the American people $1.7 billion to be put into a slush fund that he controls to reward his political supporters, and securing an agreement with the IRS, that no matter how much fraud or illegality he and his family and his business entities engaged in, they are getting off scot free."

A full transcript of Murphy's remarks is available below.

Murphy: Mr. President, I'm glad to join Senator Kaine on the floor today in support of his resolution. I have admittedly lost count on how many of these resolutions we have brought before the body. This must be our seventh, eighth, or ninth. That's extraordinary, duplicative, redundant, but necessary. Because, at least in my time in the Senate, never before has this country engaged in such a significant, consequential, deadly, and costly military operation overseas without the consent of the people and without the consent of Congress.

The Founding Fathers were really intentional in lodging the war making power not in the executive branch, but in the legislative branch. There are few questions we confront that are more serious about when we send our men and women to die overseas, when we decide to expend such a sizable amount of our hard-earned taxpayers' money on military operations. It should not, it cannot be simply one individual who makes those decisions. It has to be all of us. And so, these are increasingly heartbreaking motions to make, because it shouldn't be up to the minority party. The majority- who asked for the consent of the governed to lead this Senate- should do their responsibility under the Constitution, and have a full debate on an authorization of military force. Here's my guess, it would not pass. If Leader Thune brought an authorization for military force against Iran here in the Senate, it would not pass. I don't think it would even get 50 votes, it might not get 40 votes, it would fail, and the president would not have the authorization to continue these operations.

I'm going to just talk about two, I think, important topics that I have yet to address on the floor, and the first is the consequences of spending this much money on a war that is making us less safe. I've made this case before on the floor, and I won't go into it again, but this war is not making us any safer. This war is jeopardizing our security around the world, but at what cost.

So, in hearings last week, the administration suggested that the cost of the war is about $29 billion. To most military experts, that just didn't pass the straight face test, the smell test, and in fact, one group of experts actually did an accounting based upon what they know of the costs of an engagement like this- which has largely been an air campaign - but it's required a massive deployment of forces into the region- and they said it looks to be about $15 billion in mobilization, administration, and combat costs, general operations costs. $41 billion when you look at all of the weapons that have been expended, about $12 billion in losses, damages, destroyed assets, and we're learning that there's a really extensive amount of damage that's been done to our fixed resources in the region. And then we probably spent another $3 billion or so supporting our partners in the region. That's about $72 billion that has been spent, just in the first 70/80 days of war.

And I get it, even I think for my colleagues, you kind of lose the value of money when you're in this place and allocating tens, or hundreds, of billions of dollars on a regular basis for the operations of the federal government, and for my constituents, they even lose track of what's a big number anymore at the federal government. What does $72 billion mean? Well, let me give you a little bit of context.

What's the entire operations budget for the national park system on an annual basis, is it $71 billion? No. Is it half that? No. Is it 10? No. The entire operations budget for the National Park System is $2 billion. Just to give you kind of a sense of what we're talking about here. In two and a half months of war, we've spent $70 billion. The National Park System needs about $2 billion to operate. Their entire budget of deferred maintenance, if you wanted to fix everything that's broken in the National Park Service, how much would it cost? It would cost $33 billion. So, half of what we have spent on the Iran war could fix up every national park in the country to tip top shape.

How much do we spend on elementary education? Elementary, middle, and secondary education? Every year about $33 billion. So if you took the amount of money we spent on the Iran war and dedicated it all to K-12 education, we would triple the amount of money that our elementary, middle, and high schools get in this country.

What an important investment that would be. What would it mean to your child's elementary school to have triple the amount of federal funding? That would mean that you could reduce class sizes, you could hire more professionals, urban school districts could hire guidance counselors and social workers for the first time. New school buildings would go up, leaks would be fixed.

How about medical research? The total budget of NIH and CDC? About $60 billion. So, if we had taken this money that we've spent in just two and a half months of war and applied it to medical research, we would double this year's budget for medical research. If you doubled the NIH and CDC budget this year, I guarantee you, we'd cure at least one disease, we'd find a treatment years ahead of schedule, we'd save lives, thousands of lives. But instead, we're spending this money on a war that is making us less safe and driving up costs for millions of Americans.

And again, I'm just telling you the cost to the government of this war. Of course, we are seeing billions of dollars having been spent by businesses, by farms, by consumers, because gas prices are out of control. This week, they will probably hit $5 a gallon in Connecticut. That will put a lot of my small businesses out of business, if gas prices remain at $5 through this summer. There will be lots of families in my state who, for the first 60 days, were probably able to manage that extra cost. Who are going to have to cancel a week or two or three of summer camp for their kids this summer because they're going to have to make a choice as to whether I fill up my tank to get to work or whether my kids get to go to basketball camp. Those are the decisions that families are going to make.

Okay, the second thing, very briefly, I want to talk about is another cost. The president is not spending his time right now trying to end this war. Reports are that the president has become bored of the Iran war, and that's why we're in a stalemate. Nothing is changing, nothing is happening. We are blockading the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians are blockading the Strait of Hormuz. Peace negotiations are stuck, and so day after day after day, grocery prices climb, gas prices climb, and the reports suggest it's because President Trump has lost interest in the war.

What is he interested in? Well, we found out this week. Instead of spending his last several weeks trying to end the war and bring down costs, the president has been engineering a novel new corruption scheme to pad his pockets and his supporters' pockets. We learned this week that the president is settling a lawsuit that he lodged against himself for $1.7 billion. The president sued himself. He sued the IRS, but essentially he was suing himself. And then he settled with himself for $1.7 billion to be deposited into a slush fund that the president can use at his discretion to reward his political supporters. We found out just hours ago that in that settlement is included a provision that stops the IRS from auditing the president or his family.

So, instead of ending the Iran war, instead of trying to do something about these spiraling prices and costs that are being borne by families and the federal government. The president has spent the last few weeks reaching his hand into the Treasury, stealing from the American people $1.7 billion to be put into a slush fund that he controls to reward his political supporters, and securing an agreement with the IRS, that no matter how much fraud or illegality he and his family and his business entities engaged in, they are getting off scot free.

Everybody else in this country plays by the rules, can be audited by the IRS, is subject to the tax code. The president, as of today, no longer subject to the tax code. His past fraud, his past illegality has been immunized, and he's getting $1.7 billion of your money to give away to his political supporters.

That's why the war is still happening, that's why these costs right now are likely $70 billion to the taxpayer, billions more in increased costs. That's why they continue to go up and up and up, because the president has become bored by the war. He doesn't pay the cost of the war. In fact, every day he gets richer, because instead of ending the war, he is spending his time finding new, novel, and corrupt ways to reach his hand into the federal treasury and get paid by the taxpayers of this country.

I'm glad that we are getting closer to 50 votes. I imagine that when we come back from recess, after many of my Republican colleagues have heard about the misery that is being visited on this economy because of these high prices, we will reach enough votes to pass this resolution. But we will not stop bringing these measures before the Senate until that day comes. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.