WASHINGTON − For weeks, speculation has grown on Capitol Hill about a second "Big, Beautiful Bill" as some Republicans push foranother big legislative swingahead ofa midterm cyclethat could cost them full control of Congress.
The talk is starting to get more serious, as lawmakers acknowledge that it may be the only way to pass as much as$200 billion in additional defense spendingfor theintensifying Iran war.
But the road through Congress for war cash is likely to be a tough one, with the GOP unable to afford losing few (if any) voteswithin already-thin margins in the Senate and House of Representatives. And it risks fracturing Republicans trying to present a unified party message as the November elections approach.
Read more:Trump says GOP lawmaker would have been 'dead by June' in awkward moment
See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.Bahrain
Smoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Syria Syrian children stand on the wreckage of an Iranian rocket that was reportedly intercepted by Israeli forces in the southern countryside of Quneitra, near the Golan Heights, close to the town of Ghadir al-Bustan." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Iraq A plume of smoke rises near Erbil International Airport in Erbil on March 1, 2026. Loud explosions were heard early on March 1 near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Iraq Members and officers from the Iraqi Interior Ministry's Explosives Directorate inspect the fuel tank of a rocket that landed in a rural village in the Siyahi area near the city of Hilla in the central Babil province on March 1, 2026. Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the U.S. and Iran, warned that it did not want to be dragged into the war that started on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Qatar A prayer appealing to God for protection is projected on the dome of al-Hazm shopping mall in Doha on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Qatar Motorists drive past a plume of smoke rising from a reported Iranian strike in the industrial district of Doha on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Bahrain A building that was damaged by an Iranian drone attack, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Manama, Bahrain, March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Saudi Arabia The empty terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is pictured on March 1, 2026. Global airlines cancelled flights across the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, plunging the region into a new conflict. In Saudi Arabia, Iranian missiles targeting Riyadh's international airport and the Prince Sultan Airbase, which houses U.S. military personnel, were intercepted, a Gulf source briefed on the matter told AFP." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates A food delivery bike drive close to a plume of smoke rising from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian strike in Abu Dhabi on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates An oil tanker is pictured offshore in Dubai on March 1, 2026. Attacks have damaged tankers, and many ship owners, oil majors and trading houses suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Oman Smoke billows from an oil tanker under U.S. sanctions, that was hit off Oman's Musandam peninsula, in this screen grab from a video obtained by Reuters on March 1, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Kuwait Smoke rises from a reported Iranian strike in the area where the U.S. Embassy is located in Kuwait City on March 2, 2026. Black smoke was seen rising from the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City on March 2 after the latest volley of Iranian strikes, an AFP correspondent saw," style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Saudi Arabia A satellite image shows efforts to control a fire as smoke rises in the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia after a drone attack, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia March 2, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Turkey People make their way after crossing from Iran into Turkey at the Kapikoy Border Gate in eastern Van province,Turkey, March 2, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Delivery persons ride motorcycles along a road as a tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Pieces of missiles and drones recovered after Iran's strikes are displayed during a press briefing by the UAE government held in Abu Dhabi on March 3, 2026. Iran stepped up its attacks on economic targets and US missions across the Middle East on March 3, as the US president warned it was "too late" for the Islamic republic to seek talks to escape the war. As drones and missiles crashed into oil facilities and U.S. embassies in the Gulf, Washington's ally Israel bombarded targets in Iran and pushed troops deeper into Lebanon to battle the Tehran-backed militia Hezbollah." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 3, 2026. The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on March 3, including warning residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of an imminent operation." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Emergency personnel work at the site of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Lebanon Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the Jamaa Islamiya offices in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Sidon on March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
United Arab Emirates Tankers are seen off the coast of the Fujairah, as Iran vows to close the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 3, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
See how the Iran war's fallout is hitting the Middle East
See how Middle Eastern countries are caught in the crossfire of thewar launched by the United States and Israel against Iran.BahrainSmoke rises in the sky after blasts were heard in Manama, Bahrain, Feb. 28, 2026.
While thepolitics of a Pentagon funding influx are complicated, the legislative logistics are relatively simple: Passing a big tax and spending law through a process known as "reconciliation" requires just a simple majority vote in the Senate.
That's how the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill — a behemoth piece of legislation that slashed Medicaid, eliminated taxes on tips and overhauled student loans — came into being last year. Virtually everything else necessitates 60 votes, which requires support from Democrats.
Both strategies have pros and cons. The math for reconciliation, theoretically, is easier. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a hardline conservative, called it a "better approach" than wading into the territory of needing to court Democrats for votes.
He acknowledged the legislation could quickly balloon, complicating its feasibility of getting to PresidentDonald Trump's desk.
"Obviously, that raises a lot of questions in terms of what would go along with it, and what we would do," Roy told USA TODAY. "There are issues involving tax policy, health care policy. Everything starts opening up when you start going down the road of reconciliation."
Another potential reconciliation push was a big topic of debate at House Republicans' recent annual policy retreat in Doral, Florida. House SpeakerMike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told reporters on the trip that another such megabill would "not be as big, but it'd be just as beautiful."
While lots of ideas were floated during lawmakers' excursion to the Sunshine State, neither Republicans nor Democrats are as of yet entirely aware of what could end up included in another reconciliation package.
"Who would know?" Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, told USA TODAY.
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Republicans, she argued, "just continue to skirt the process, to fly in the face of how government does business."
Read more:Trump may need billions for the Iran war. Congress stands in the way.
MAGA, Senate divisions
Two important Republican constituencies on Capitol Hill are already posing threats to another reconciliation bill's success.
For one thing, at least one anti-interventionist conservative isn't happy with the prospect of spending more money to support conflicts abroad instead of fixing problems at home.
"I am so tired of spending money on the industrial war complex," Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, a stalwart MAGA acolyte, told reporters last week. "I have folks in Colorado who can't afford to live."
Some pragmatists in the Senate are also hesitant to fully endorse such a plan. While some Republicans, such as close Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, already are saying they're "open" to approving war money through reconciliation, others don't want to get on board yet.
"There's no way to know actually what's in it, and the likelihood of it actually moving anywhere, if we don't have context," Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, told USA TODAY.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who cast the key vote last year for the "Big, Beautiful Bill," has been increasingly skeptical of the war effort. She's called in particular on the Trump administration to step up its communication with lawmakers before she can think about approving more Pentagon cash.
Read more:Murkowski skeptical about war cost estimates
The White House has "got to be able to provide us information as requested," she said. "Don't just take for granted that the Congress' role is basically just to write a check."
Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:What the Iran war means for talk of another 'Big, Beautiful Bill'
