Rep. Ro Khanna: invest $200 billion in fully funding college instead of the Iran War
The Trump administration is seeking $200 billion more in funding from Congress to funnel to the Iran war. Rep. Ro Khanna from California reminds Americans that billions of dollars can be allocated to community-building initiatives instead of funding the conflict.
“Donald Trump is asking for $200 billion to continue the war on Iran. What are we even doing here?” Khanna posted on X.
The Trump administration has justified the need to attack Iran, citing ‘state-sponsored terrorism’ and nuclearization. But the intelligence communities of the United States disagree with the assertion of an ‘imminent threat’ posed by Iran to the United States.
“Let me tell you what $200 billion could do here in America. It would allow for free public college for every American kid. We could build a thousand trade schools, we could pay every American teacher $60,000 to start,” Khanna argued.
“We could have universal childcare: childcare at $10 a day, with childcare workers making $25 an hour. And we could fully fund special needs education at 40% of what the federal government needs to fund,” he continued.
“It’s time that instead of putting Iran first, we actually put America first. I am tired of billions of dollars going to a Middle East war. Let’s spend that here, in communities at home,” Khanna finished.
Nevertheless, the Pentagon is asking for $200 billion to supplement the Iran war. Why spend all that for war?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth himself accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism. He said during a press briefing at the Pentagon, “They’ve spent that money instead of investing in their people.” And yet the United States doesn’t fare any better on citizen welfare either. At least a million Americans are struggling to pay their student loans. The Big Beautiful Bill threatens to defund Medicaid and leave an estimated 17 million Americans uninsured by 2034. 22.3 million families may lose their SNAP benefits altogether.
Is the war justified?
And yet, Trump does not rule out putting boots on the ground. To secure Kharg Island, the BBC reported that they have made “detailed preparations to deploy forces on the ground.” To Trump’s credit, securing Kharg Island can cut off Iran’s ability to export oil. Nevertheless, it’s a gamble that can further escalate the war—and Iran may retaliate by targeting civilian infrastructure of neighboring nations.
This is all beside the point—war, even in Trump’s base, is unpopular. It led to the resignation of his National Counterterrorism Center director, who was an avid supporter of the president. Trump’s media supporters have also taken turns criticizing Trump’s move to attack Iran.
This is not to say that defending national interests is not worth paying for. More specifically, a legitimate, imminent threat is an excellent argument for war. But this still needs congressional approval—something Trump has ignored through the course of his campaign in Iran. It needs ample preparation so that allies can prepare themselves for the disruption the war is bound to cause.
But when the Trump administration scrambles to sell a narrative about the war, it becomes less convincing for them to ask their base to support the notion of sending their children to pay the price of yet another war in the Middle East. It becomes even less persuasive when the commander in chief himself can’t give a timeline of the war. Instead, the conflict is escalating, and the civilian casualties in the Middle East are in the thousands.
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