If I had to cut against the grain just a touch: the Pentagon's already failed audits multiple years in a row despite their massive, multi-hundred billion dollar budgets. It ain't five trillion like AOC claimed and got clowned on pre-COVID. I know that much. But, if I were Rand Paul, I'd point out that it makes no sense to give $200 billion to fight the Iran War considering past budgets and failed audits.
I'm aware there's a hard distinction between "the United States Armed Forces" as in the people actually enlisted and carry out their actions in accordance with the priorities outlined by President, Secretary of War, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, etc's wishes... and "the broader administrative upper echelons of the Pentagon where most of the money goes." I'm aware that 200 billion dollars of funding goes a long way. Yet that whole 200 billion never goes directly to the US Armed Forces in its totality. Gets split out to defence contractors, administrative pay bonuses, and other stuff that doesn't directly impact the lives of say... Private Johnny Smith who just finished boot camp. Combine that grim reality with the consecutive yearly audits failing time and again? Something's gotta give.
Not trying to be contrarian for the sake of dooming. Just pointing out that it's 100% valid to have reservations for 20% of a trillion dollars to fight a war against a single opponent. (Yes, yes, I know that Iran's one part of a geopolitical axis of hostile powers, Venezuela going down and Iran going down makes China easier to deal with and puts Russia in a bind, there are tangible realpolitik reasons to greenlight the 200 billion).
