What Could We Achieve With $200 Billion?

In the first week of its war against Iran, the US spent $11.5 billion or $1.5 billion a day. The Pentagon has requested $200 billion for the anticipated costs of the conflict. That’s on top of the $900 billion that Congress has already budgeted for the armed forces this year. War is not only hell; it is very expensive.

We should bear in mind that the $200 billion is only for the direct costs of attacking the enemy: firing off munitions, flying planes, sailing ships, etc. As we learned from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, over the long-term, veterans’ health care expenses can dwarf the direct costs of waging war.

But let’s stick with the $200 billion figure and use it to analyze the priorities of the Trump Administration and the Republican Party. If the US were not attacking Iran, what could it accomplish with the $200 billion?

· For $34 billion, the government could subsidize insurance premiums for millions of Americans covered by Obamacare, instead of ending that critical support.

· For $60 billion, the US could provide Ukraine with enough weapons and funds to hold the Russians at bay.

· For $60 billion, USAID could have continued to provide food and medicine around the world, saving three million or more lives a year.

That adds up to $154 billion, which could fund those initiatives for a year. To use the entire $200 billion, the government could fund the Obamacare subsidies for more than two years, rather than one.

Kyiv Building Hit by Missile-March 14, 2026 / photo: Getty Images

Cutting Health Care Subsidies

President Donald J. Trump is extremely proud of his One Big Beautiful Bill, which extended his steep tax cuts for ultra-wealthy Americans and corporations. However, the Bill will cause the Federal budget deficit to skyrocket. Trump did not care about the red ink, but many Republicans in Congress did.

To reduce the hole in the budget, Republicans did not renew the subsidies for health care premiums that Congress enacted during the Biden Administration. Those subsidies have enabled millions of Americans to purchase health insurance policies through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

The annual cost for those premium subsidies was $34 billion, that is, about 0.5% of the Federal budget. So the actual “savings” from cutting them were meager in the context of overall government finances. Ideology played a key role, of course. Many Republican politicians do not believe that the Federal government should play much, if any, role in helping Americans to obtain medical care. They would love to abolish Obamacare and replace it with…something.

To put this is context, restoring the premium subsidies would cost the same as three weeks of waging war. That’s based on a calculation by Nicholas Kristof in his March 21 article The $1.3 Million a Minute War, which describes his extensive list of alternative expenditures.

Sabotaging Obamacare

Obamacare has become a critical part of the American social safety net; the program covers about 45 million Americans. Roughly half are enrolled through the ACA’s insurance marketplaces, and the other half are covered through its expansion of Medicaid.

Ending the subsidies will jeopardize many Americans’ finances or their health. Their premiums will probably double, so many will no longer be able to afford their policies. About 25% of those covered by the ACA said that they are “very likely” to drop their policies if their premiums double, or, if they don’t pay premiums, if their medical expenses rise by more than $50 a month.

About 10 to 15 million Americans may eventually lose their coverage under Obamacare.

Biden Bolstered Ukraine

Under the Biden Administration, the US provided $60 billion a year in aid to Ukraine. That was 1% of the Federal budget.

Half of the assistance was for military expenditures…weapons, munitions etc.….and half was financial support. European states provided roughly the same amount of aid, but it was skewed more toward financial and humanitarian assistance.

With that support, Ukraine managed to hold the Russian invaders at bay for about two years. The front remained stable after the Russians’ initial gains at the start of the invasion. However, from late 2023 until April 2024, Republicans in Congress delayed renewing the aid package for six months. As its military supplies ran low, Ukraine started to lose ground against the Russians.

A Cold Shoulder from Trump

Under the Trump Administration, the US has not authorized any new aid to Ukraine—not a dime. Instead, Trump agreed to sell US arms and military equipment to the European governments, which donate those supplies to Ukraine. (Trump boasted for a while about how much money the US was making from those sales. But even he realized after a while how crass that sounded). Still, the lack of US aid has put Ukraine at a disadvantage, and the Russians have been making incremental gains for many months.

As the war in Iran grinds on, the fallout for Ukraine has been grim. The US and its allies in the Gulf have fired off so many interceptor missiles that Washington has diverted some that were destined for Ukraine. As a result, Kyiv may have even fewer resources to defend its infrastructure against devastating Russian missile attacks.

A Gift for Putin

Trump’s recent removal of sanctions on Russian oil sales is a reckless move. He took this shortsighted step to slow the rise in oil prices. However, Russia may generate $150 million of additional revenues a day from oil sales, which it needs badly to finance its war machine.

In any event, it is bizarre that Trump is spending a fortune to defend Israel against a potential menace and the US against a remote threat but refuses to help Ukraine repel an actual invasion.

Kyiv faces other problems, such as a much smaller pool of recruits than Russia’s. However, the cutoff in American assistance has been an important factor. If the US resumed giving Ukraine $60 billion a year, that would boost its military…and it would send a strong signal to Vladimir Putin that the war will not end soon.

That development could significantly improve Ukraine’s negotiating position with the Russians. And who knows, maybe it could even end that conflict. Trump should think about that possibility as he pursues the Nobel Peace Prize.

A Crime Against Humanity

When Elon Musk and Trump shut down USAID and its humanitarian programs without Congress’ approval, they did not just violate the law. They committed a crime against humanity. The scale of the suffering and death they have triggered is massive.

With an annual budget of $60 billion, USAID provided a wide range of critical, life-saving programs and projects around the world. The agency supplied food and medical supplies. USAID supported health clinics and clean-water projects, among other initiatives. The agency played a critical role in supporting public health in many regions, but especially in Africa.

USAID’s demise may cause up to 3 million preventable deaths a year, according to the relief organization Oxfam America’s January 27 article What USAID did. In July 2025, The Lancet, a British medical journal, arrived at a similar conclusion, projecting 14 million preventable deaths by 2030. Other organizations have estimated that close to 800,000 people have already perished because USAID was disbanded.

Like the aid to Ukraine, USAID’s $60 billion was only 1% of the Federal budget. The US could spend that amount either pounding Iran for another five weeks…or saving the lives of three million people in one year.

If you were President, what choice would you make?

The Wall Street Democrat