Staff Reports
Senator Chris Van Hollen told ABC’s This Week that President Donald Trump should “end it right now” — meaning bring the U.S. military campaign in Iran to a halt — and vowed he “will not vote for one more penny for this senseless war.” That headline-grabbing demand is a fresh development from a Sunday interview shot in Jordan, and it landed squarely in the middle of a raw budget fight now playing out in the Senate.
Van Hollen’s TV ultimatum: End the Iran conflict now
On national television, Senator Van Hollen framed the choice as simple: “When you’re digging a hole, you just stop digging,” he said, blaming President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a war that, in his telling, had no clear objective. He repeated his pledge to block further appropriations tied to the campaign, a promise that matters because he sits on both the Senate Foreign Relations and Appropriations Committees.
Why refusing money without a plan is hollow — and dangerous
Let’s be blunt: walking away from funding while our forces are engaged is not a serious strategy. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told the Senate that the campaign has already cost tens of billions of dollars and warned that interceptors and munitions are being used at high rates. If you believe the men in uniform know what they’re talking about, you don’t cheerfully cut off their supplies mid-fight. If you don’t, then you explain why your alternative actually protects American troops and U.S. interests in the Strait of Hormuz and beyond.
What Republicans should demand — strategy, conditions, and oversight
Van Hollen’s stunt puts the ball in Congress’s court. His committee assignments give him leverage, but leverage should buy answers, not applause lines. Republicans should press for a real strategy: clear objectives, a timeline, and strict conditions attached to any supplemental funding. If Democrats want to insist on an exit, make them sign off on a phased, verifiable plan that protects allies, secures shipping lanes, and preserves readiness. Otherwise they’ve handed Iran a prize for coercion.
Senator Van Hollen’s television flourish plays well to his base but leaves a lot undone. The real question for lawmakers is not who shouts “end it” the loudest on Sunday morning shows. It’s whether Congress will force the White House to justify the mission, safeguard troops, and use appropriations power wisely — not as a political cudgel. If Democrats insist on cutting money, they should at least be honest about what comes next for American forces and regional stability.
