As U.S. and Israeli forces continue hammering Iranian targets for a second week, a prominent fiscal watchdog is sounding an alarm that has nothing to do with battlefield strategy: America’s soaring national debt may be its most dangerous vulnerability of all.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a nonpartisan Washington think tank, released a statement on Thursday warning that the ongoing military conflict with Iran has exposed the United States’ precarious fiscal position—and calling on Congress to act with unusual restraint if it moves to pass a war funding package.
“The conflict in Iran demonstrates why we need to keep our national debt at a reasonable level,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB. “Without the fiscal space to respond to emergencies and other urgent needs, we are left vulnerable. How can we prioritize our national security when we’re spending more on interest payments than national defense?”
The warning comes as reports circulate that the White House may request as much as $50 billion in emergency defense funding to replenish weapons stocks drawn down by the strikes on Iran and as experts such as Penn Wharton’s Kent Smetters estimate a two-month war adding $65 billion onto the national debt. Some in Congress are already eyeing a sprawling package that would bundle in farm aid, disaster relief, and other initiatives—a move MacGuineas bluntly called a “Christmas Tree supplemental.”
