200 days ago, Donald Trump launched his deeply unpopular war with Iran. Now, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), his war with Iran is costing taxpayers an average of $246 million per day — and the conflict has no end in sight. That figure doesn’t even include billions more it will cost to repair the extensive damage to US military bases overseas. It also doesn’t include the $83 billion extra Americans have spent on gas since the beginning of the war, and prices continue to soar.
Over the past year, well over 1.5 million kids have had food snatched away from them as they lost food aid, while some 8 million people have lost the health care coverage they relied on after Trump and Republicans in Congress cut health care and food assistance by over $1 trillion. The money wasn’t there for them, but Trump and his team think they deserve a blank check for this pointless war. Instead of bankrolling yet another forever war overseas, working Americans could be getting so much more. Read more about what we could be spending $246 million per day on instead of Trump’s war with Iran:
Trump’s $246 Million-Per-Day Price Tag For War With Iran Could:
- Buy 51.7 million school lunches every day.
- Fund nursing home care for 780,972 seniors every day.
- Replace 52,340 lead pipes every day in the U.S. drinking water supply, protecting tens of millions of families from lead poisoning and exposure.
- Repair or replace 183 dangerously dilapidated bridges every day.
- Fully fund the daily cost of reversing Trump’s cuts to food assistance.
- Fully fund the daily budgeted cost of home heating and cooling cost assistance for millions of American families.
- Fully fund the daily budgeted cost of the national WIC program providing food assistance to women and children.
- Fully fund the daily budgeted cost of Head Start, which gives millions of kids high-quality early childhood education.
- Fully fund the daily cost of restoring the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, which 22 million Americans relied on, for three years.
- Fund 88% of the daily cost of restoring the funding Trump and Republicans cut from Medicaid.
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For the 2026–2027 school year, the USDA is reimbursing schools participating in the National School Lunch Program at a rate of $4.76 per free lunch served.
The cost of nursing home care in a semi-private room amounts to approximately $315 per day.
The EPA estimates that the average replacement cost per line is $4,700.
The American Road & Transportation Builders Association estimates there are 297,975 bridges across the country in need of major repair work or replacement, which would cost roughly $400 billion in total — averaging $1.34 million per bridge.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s 10-year cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is $186 billion, amounting to $50.9 million per day.
LIHEAP’s FY 2026 budget is $4.13 billion, amounting to $11.3 million per day.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) cost $7.7 billion in FY 2025, amounting to $21.1 million per day.
Head Start’s FY 2026 budget is $12.357 billion, amounting to $33.9 million per day.
The CBO estimated that a three-year extension of enhanced ACA premium subsidies would cost the government $80.6 billion over 10 years, amounting to $22 million per day.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s 10-year cut to Medicaid is $1.02 trillion, amounting to $279.4 million per day.