{"id":537106,"date":"2026-03-21T17:26:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537106\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T17:26:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:26:12","slug":"billions-could-have-been-spent-on-social-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537106\/","title":{"rendered":"Billions Could Have Been Spent on Social Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe first six days of Donald Trump\u2019s war against Iran cost a whopping $11.3 billion<\/a>, according to a report from the Pentagon given to Congress earlier this month. The pricetag is expected to continue climbing \u2014 exponentially.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, The Washington Post reported<\/a> that the Department of Defense will be seeking\u00a0 $200 billion in supplementary funding from Congress for the Iran war<\/a> effort. The offensive is already exacting a toll on Americans at home. Thirteen service members have been killed<\/a> with hundreds more injured, and the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has caused global oil prices<\/a> to skyrocket, and is expected to affect other commodities such as fertilizers and medical-use chemicals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe war has already left large swaths of Republicans feeling betrayed<\/a>, after Trump campaigned on an anti-war, anti- interventionist, America First presidency. An open-ended quagmire costing billions of dollars runs directly counter to his supposed brand \u2014 especially as he and his administration have preached the need to cut back \u201cwasteful spending\u201d and reduce bloat in the federal government.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first six months of Trump\u2019s second term were largely defined by ruthless spending cuts and mass firings under the auspices of Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The department ended up squandering over $20 billion<\/a> in government funds, an amount that is expected to increase given the string of lawsuits, loss of efficiency triggered by mass firings, and the settlements and compensation granted to those affected by the cuts. Even as the war in Iran rages on, members of the DOGE team are being hauled into depositions<\/a> about their role in alleged abuses of sensitive data by the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder the so-called Big Beautiful Bill passed last year, Congress backed Trump in making permanent his first-term tax breaks for billionaires and the ultra wealthy, while taking massive bites out of the American social safety nets. The 12 percent cut to Medicaid spending is expected to kick 10.9 million Americans off their health insurance by 2030. Millions were kicked off food assistance. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense was granted an additional $150 billion, and the Department of Homeland Security was given $170 billion for border security and the expansion of ICE. The Department of Defense is also spending tens of millions<\/a> to change its name to the \u201cDepartment of War\u201d under Hegseth.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s never been more obvious that the administration\u2019s hand-wringing about cutting costs was n a ruse to enrich the wealthy at the expense of the less fortunate. While Americans watch their tax dollars explode in the Middle East, here are some things the federal government could be spending that money on instead:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tHealth Care\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, Republicans in Congress moved to allow enhanced federal subsidies for health care plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to expire, resulting in skyrocketing premiums for millions of Americans. As a result, studies are already showing that as many as one in 10<\/a> individuals previously purchasing health insurance through the ACA are now uninsured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)<\/a>, it would have cost $350 billion to extend the enhanced subsidies for a full decade, and only $60 billion for a two-year extension.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tChild Care\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn January, the Trump administration announced it would be cutting $10 billion<\/a> in funding for child care and other social programs across five states: New York, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and Colorado.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Trump administration claimed<\/a> the move was taken in response to \u201cDemocrat-led states and governors [having] been complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud,\u201d and would ensure \u201cthat federal taxpayer dollars are being used for legitimate purposes. We will ensure these states are following the law and protecting hard-earned taxpayer money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tSeveral states are suing the Trump administration over the withholding of the funds, with New York Governor Kathy Hochul calling the decision \u201cvindictive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tMedical Debt\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe total cost of medical debt held by Americans is roughly $220 billion<\/a>. The money the Pentagon wants Congress to approve for the war could effectively wipe out all medical debt in America. All of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tForeign Aid\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Trump administration has hollowed out much of the federal government\u2019s foreign aid infrastructure through the decimation of USAID, a sprawling international development agency with a roughly $23 billion annual budget before its demise. Trump succeeded in killing off one of the most effective global aid agencies ever created \u2014 which estimates project will result in as many as 9.4 million deaths around the world by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn June, the administration sought to claw back over $8 billion in foreign aid<\/a> funding, including funds for global health programs, humanitarian aid, and international civil society development. Major programs such as the President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria were severely affected by the funding cuts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tFood Assistance\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Congress passed Trump\u2019s so-called Big Beautiful Bill, it cut $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest food assistance program in the country. The cuts were spread between 2025 and 2034, so about 20.6 billion a year. In addition, millions were kicked off the program under new work requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe current rate of spending on the Iranian offensive provided by the Pentagon indicates that in less than one month of the conflict, the Trump administration has spent $13 billion more than the amount of money it \u201csaved\u201d in a whole year by depriving impoverished and hungry Americans of food assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tPublic Programming\u00a0\t<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump last July signed a bill<\/a> cutting $1.1. billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in January voted to shut down in the wake of the cuts. Last August, after Congress approved $500 million in cuts to public broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) cut its budget by over 20 percent. The legacy broadcaster, responsible for classic programming like Mister Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood, Sesame Street, and Arthur was forced to lay over over 100 staffers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tPreschool Development\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Trump administration cut $315 million in funding grants for preschool education they claimed had been infiltrated by \u201cDEI\u201d ideology. That\u2019s a small fraction of the amount the government spent on the first week of the war.<\/p>\n

\t\tAid for the Disabled\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would dismantle the Administration for Community Living (ACL). The program, which helped provide transportation, nutrition assistance through programs like Meals on Wheels for the elderly and disabled, had $2.4 billion cut out of its budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf spending billions on a war against Iran seems nonsensical to Americans, Congress seems to agree. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are publicly opposing another blank check war in the Middle East, and are preemptively declaring their \u201cno\u201d vote to the Pentagon\u2019s request for $200 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am a no. I have already told leadership. I am a no on any war supplemental. I am so tired of spending money over there,\u201d Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) told CNN<\/a>. \u201cI have folks in Colorado who can\u2019t afford to live. We need America first policies right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) questioned what the administration is doing in a separate CNN interview<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about boots on the ground. We\u2019re talking about that kind of extended activity. Now we\u2019re in a whole \u2018nother zip code,\u201d he said. \u201cThey got a whole lot more briefing and a whole lot more explaining to do on how we\u2019re going to pay for it and what\u2019s the mission here?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a social media post published earlier this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) listed out<\/a> some of the things that would cost less than the $22.8 billion already spent on the war at the time. \u201cProvide Medicaid to 6.8 million kids. Build 2.6 million public housing units. Fund Head Start for 1.3 million. Hire 240,000 teachers. Cancel $20,000 in student debt for 1 million borrowers,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSen.\u00a0 Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) complained that the Trump administration has the gall to ask Congress to authorize more spending after it launched the war without congressional approval. \u201cWe voted on the floor not to even discuss publicly this invasion of Iran. Now comes a $200 billion price tag. This is not acceptable,\u201d he told reporters<\/a>. \u201cThis war is extremely expensive, and the president has put off a lot of priorities for America and its families to invade this country. It\u2019s going to be extremely expensive, starting with American lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first six days of Donald Trump\u2019s war against Iran cost a whopping $11.3 billion, according to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,228242,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-537106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-iran-war","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}