Nearly two weeks into Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular war with Iran, new reporting shows that the Pentagon burned through an estimated $11.3 billion in just the first six days of the conflict. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress were all-too-eager to rip away Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that made health care affordable, public school funding, food assistance, and more to enrich themselves and their powerful friends. Trump and his cronies think there is unlimited money for their incompetence overseas, but not for basic programs that working families rely on. Instead of bankrolling yet another forever war overseas, working Americans could be getting so much more. Read more about what we could be spending $11 billion on instead of Trump’s war with Iran:
The First Six Days of Trump’s War with Iran Could Have:
- Bought around 2.5 billion school lunches, fully funding the program for more than half a year.
- Paid for food assistance for around 4.7 million households for a year.
- Repaired more than 6,000 dilapidated bridges across the U.S.
- Extended ACA tax credits that 22 million Americans rely on for nearly a year.
- More than doubled every state’s rural health grant funding for 2026.
- Funded nursing home care for nearly 100,000 seniors for a year.
- Fully funded the entire LIHEAP home heating and cooling cost assistance program for millions of Americans for almost three years.
- Nearly fully funded Head Start, giving hundreds of thousands of kids high-quality early childhood education.
- Funded the salaries of around 240,000 new teachers.
- Replaced 25–40% of the lead pipes (2.4 million lines) in the U.S. drinking water supply.
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For the 2025–2026 school year, the USDA is reimbursing schools participating in the National School Lunch Program at a rate of $4.60 per free lunch served.