Office of Management and Budget
US federal office that prepares the President's budget and inter-agency funding requests.
Last refreshed: 27 July 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
OMB asked Congress for $67bn to cover a war whose own Pentagon can't say what its cost figure actually means.
Timeline for Office of Management and Budget
Requested $87.6 billion including $67 billion for Iran war costs
Iran Conflict 2026: Hegseth prices the war at $37.5bnBackground
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the White House office that assembles the President's budget and transmits the executive branch's funding requests to Congress. Its director, Russell Vought, wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson on 24 June asking for $87.6 billion in supplemental spending, of which $67 billion is the Defence component covering the Iran war.
An OMB letter is a request, not a bill: Congress still has to draft and pass the appropriation itself, and no markup or vote date has been set. OMB does not fight wars or spend the money it asks for; it packages the request and defends the arithmetic when lawmakers start asking questions.
That arithmetic came under direct pressure on 21 July, when Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee the campaign had cost $37.5 billion so FAR, without saying whether that figure was obligated, appropriated or incremental spending. Ranking member Patty Murray said the committee would not "rubber-stamp" the request. OMB's letter is the paper trail lawmakers are now working from, and its gaps are theirs to explain.