By Martha Grevatt
March 17, 2026
March 16 -The people of Iran and West Asia are, obviously, suffering the most from the latest U.S. war. Thousands of them have been killed and injured. There is heavy destruction of infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, especially in Lebanon.
Mississippi for a Just World protests the U.S. war against Iran, March 5, 2026. (Photo: Mississippi Today)
Nevertheless, working class and oppressed people inside the U.S. are being negatively impacted by the war in a multitude of ways. For one, the price of gasoline has skyrocketed, from below $3 a gallon before the U.S. war against Iran began to about $3.50 a gallon now. In fact, multiple things cost more — food, home heating oil, fertilizers and much more. Household debt is up.
The war is costing anywhere from $1 billion to $2 billion per day. On March 12, the conservative American Enterprise Institute estimated the costs at between $11.2 billion and $14.5 billion as of that date. (politico.com, March 12) NPR put the price tag at $16.5 billion for the first 12 days. (npr.org, March 14) The Iran Cost Ticker website said the cost was over $23 billion and increasing by over $11,000 per second. (Iran-cost-ticker.com, March 17)
President Donald Trump reportedly wants Congress to authorize an initial installment of $50 billion just for this war on top of the $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget.
What could that money be spent on instead?
Just $1 billion could cover child care costs for over 72,000 parents with infants. Or that same $1 billion could pay the tuition for 90,000 students attending public colleges and universities. A little under half of that $1 billion would allow the Cleveland Municipal School District to update 40 of its older buildings, installing air conditioning, repairing heating systems or replacing old roofs.
Think what $50 billion could do. That’s about half of what the federal government has been spending annually on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps). But with the passage of Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, some people will lose SNAP benefits due to new work requirements or the shifting of 25% of funding costs to state governments. That $50 billion could reverse those cuts! Or $30 billion would be enough to extend enhanced premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act for one year.
A coalition of 250 organizations called on Congress to vote against any more spending on the war, saying: “The $50 billion that the administration reportedly seeks for a new Pentagon supplemental would be enough to restore food assistance for four million Americans that was taken away in the tax and budget reconciliation bill, establish universal pre-K education, and pay for the annual construction of more than 100,000 units of housing, among other possible priorities.” (democracynow.com, March 13)
In other words, money that could be spent on health care, food, housing and education is instead being dumped into a genocidal war against Iran.
Trump could end these destructive spending priorities right now. But Congress could also put a stop to endless war spending. All members of Congress have to do is say “no” when the warmongers have their hands out.
Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will end this brutal and costly war. It will take an independent working-class movement to accomplish that task.
Money for jobs, housing, education and health care — not for war!
