Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget is facing obstacles. The Republican Party urgently allocates $600 billion to fill the gap in funding for the Iran war.

House Republicans in the United States have introduced a latest funding plan to support the war against Iran, which may completely shatter President Trump's $1.5 trillion defense budget plan. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has heavily depleted stocks of intercept missiles and various types of ammunition, leaving a huge financial hole in the Pentagon's budget. Top Republicans are urgently pushing for a $600 billion special bill to fill the gap. To bypass opposition from Senate Democrats, Republicans plan to use a budget reconciliation process to advance the bill - this special legislative process does not require the usual 60 votes in the Senate to end prolonged debate, only a simple majority is needed to pass the bill. Trump administration officials had previously urged lawmakers to first pass a smaller scale bill to meet the urgent wartime funding needs. However, this plan would devastate Trump's massive defense budget blueprint: the President had initially planned to take $350 billion out of the $1.5 trillion total budget, using the same reconciliation process to get approval. Earlier this spring, Congress separately passed a $700 billion reconciliation bill for funding immigration control and border patrol projects. With Republicans holding only slim majorities in both chambers, and with the mid-term elections approaching, the feasibility of introducing two more reconciliation bills this year is almost non-existent on a political level.