Sen. Curtis renews vow not to fund Iran military operations without formal declaration of war

SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, reiterated his commitment not to approve funding for military operations in Iran without giving Congress an opportunity to weigh in.

The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to send lawmakers a supplemental funding request of roughly $80 billion, much of which would go toward covering the costs of U.S. military action in Iran. Curtis said he hasn't seen the request himself, but told the Deseret News he would have questions for Trump administration officials that he needs answers to before he can approve any funding.

"My questions are going to be: You know, I understand the funding for that first 60 to 90 days, but I committed not to fund it after that," Curtis said. "So that's what I'm going to be looking at: to see if it's clearly defined within that, or if they're trying to pay for more."

Curtis will examine the funding request to ensure the monetary amount would only cover military costs incurred during the first 60-90 days of the conflict. Under the War Powers Act, the president is required to notify Congress within 48 hours of launching a military attack, and U.S. forces can only stay in the area for 60 days.

The president has the ability to extend that window for another 30 days, but any longer than that would require congressional approval.

President Donald Trump officially notified Congress of the operation on March 2, meaning that time period expired on May 1.

Anything the Pentagon wants to fund outside of that time period would likely be off limits for Curtis.

The request comes as Republicans consider ways to fund the Defense Department, particularly as Trump has separately requested a third partisan funding package with $350 billion for the Pentagon. Congress is also working to advance its annual appropriations bill that provides the baseline budget for the department in a separate piece of legislation.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to huddle with a group of House Republicans for a classified briefing on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the additional military spending request that could be tucked into the third reconciliation bill, according to a notice sent to lawmakers and obtained by the Deseret News.

Trump will meet with Senate Republicans at the same time, and his military operations in Iran are likely to be a topic discussed.

It's not yet clear how congressional Republicans will proceed with defense-related funding requests. For supplemental funding, it typically requires 60 votes to be approved by the Senate — meaning at least seven Democrats would need to join all Republicans to advance.

Republican leaders could attempt to approve the funding through the reconciliation process, which bypasses the 60-vote filibuster. However, some Republicans have already said they'd oppose that method, making it unclear whether it could pass that way.

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