U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California said Congress should cut off money for additional U.S. military moves in Iran if Democrats win both chambers, telling Fox News Sunday that lawmakers should stop funding “any further actions in the Iran War” and that a presidential veto cannot block an appropriations cutoff.
“I would stop the funding. The House and the Senate should stop the funding for any further actions in the Iran War,” Khanna said on the Nov. 1 edition of Fox News Sunday when host Shannon Bream asked whether Democrats would defund U.S. military operations while American forces remain in the region. “That’s what we did to stop the Vietnam War. And we need to stop this war in Iran. And by the way, the president can’t veto that. The House and the Senate have the power on the appropriations bills.”
Hours after the Fox News Sunday appearance, Khanna posted, “The House & Senate can stop funding for the war in Iran. We can refuse to appropriate money for it. Trump’s veto has zero impact. When we take back Congress, this must be the first action,” in a Sunday evening post. Earlier Sunday he wrote that Democrats “can vote to zero out appropriations for the war in Iran” and framed Michigan’s Senate contest as “Vote Mike Rogers to continue the war. Vote Abdul El-Sayed to end it,” in a separate post that again tied the cutoff to gas and diesel prices.
On air, Bream had asked what “day one” meant after Khanna said Democrats would stop the war if they take Congress. He answered with the further-actions funding line and said voters who want the war to continue “should vote Republican.” “If you believe the war should continue, you should vote Republican. You really should. If you want to have higher gas prices, higher diesel prices,” he said. He told Bream that if Democrats win the House and Senate, “we will stop that war” and that the Michigan race turned on whether voters want the war to end “the day, January 3rd, after Democrats take back the control of Congress and the Senate.”
Fox News Sunday had previewed the exclusive interview a day earlier and later posted video of Khanna saying the Michigan issue is ending the Iran war, not a controversial independent ad, on the Fox News Sunday account. Bream pressed him on Iran’s nuclear threat, proxy attacks, and a Wall Street Journal editorial board argument that U.S. escort and blockade operations had moved large volumes of oil. Khanna replied that gas and diesel prices are up “because of the war in Iran,” that Iran has “more capacity for enrichment, not less,” and that voters who see the war as “a waste of money” that should have gone to “manufacturing jobs here, health care here” should “vote Democrat.”
Pressed further on results, Khanna said that after Trump “ripped up” the JCPOA and struck Iran, “Iran has more capacity for enrichment than they had before the strikes,” that “Iran has more control over the Strait of Hormuz than they did before,” and that people filling gas tanks and shopping for groceries are hurt “because of the war in Iran.” Bream cited a Wall Street Journal editorial board claim that U.S. escort and blockade operations had moved about 1.5 billion barrels of oil; Khanna kept the appropriations cutoff as the Democratic remedy if voters want lower prices.
President Donald Trump had attacked Khanna from the stump days earlier. At a Daytona Beach midterm rally, Trump called Khanna a “total dope” and a “radical left loser,” complained that “Fox is giving Democrats more time than they give Republicans,” and said he was “not happy.” Khanna answered that Trump called him a “lightweight” for opposing “$47B in Iran,” writing, “Spend that money on jobs and childcare for Americans,” in a Friday night post, and later that he would be on Fox Sunday “to share more of my thoughts on your failure in Iran and how it’s raised gas and food prices,” in a follow-up post.
On Sunday, Khanna returned to that fight on air, saying Trump “was attacking me yesterday saying, I’m on Fox News too much” and that Trump had called him a “lightweight.” Bream said previous presidents had declined to act and that Trump “felt the burden to do it.” She also said the U.S. military “would beg to differ” with Khanna’s claim that Iran’s enrichment capacity is higher now. Khanna said the Iranian regime is “horrible” and that Trump “has made the matter worse.”
Khanna’s Sunday pledge, repeated in his own posts, was to stop congressional funding for further Iran-war actions through the appropriations process if Democrats win both chambers, and that once both chambers refuse that money, “the president can’t veto that.” Trump’s Daytona Beach remarks attacked Khanna and his Fox News appearances. Bream challenged his enrichment and oil arguments on air. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution provides that no money may be drawn from the Treasury except through appropriations made by law. The Defense Casualty Analysis System listed 22 U.S. deaths in the Iran operations as of Oct. 28. Whether a new Democratic majority would actually zero those accounts on Jan. 3 is a legislative prediction, not a completed vote; the midterm outcome will decide whether the funding cutoff reaches the floor.