{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lujan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/200-days-into-trumps-38-billion-war-with-iran-new-mexicans-are-paying-the-price/", "200 Days Into Trump\u2019s $38 Billion War With Iran, New Mexicans Are Paying the Price", "2026-09-17", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "NM", "Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n", "L000570", "www.lujan.senate.gov", "lujan", "https://www.lujan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list", "scraper", "Donald Trump: \u201cIt\u2019s small potatoes for us. It\u2019s not a big thing.\u201d 9/4/26\n\nNew Mexico Diesel Prices Hit Record-High Under Donald Trump\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Two hundred days ago, President Trump launched the United States into a reckless war with Iran with no plan, no strategy, and no end game. Although he repeatedly assured the American people of a quick and decisive victory. His timeline has moved again and again: from \u201ctotal and complete victory\u201d and a war \u201cwon\u201d in its \u201cfirst hour,\u201d to promising success in \u201ctwo or three days,\u201d \u201ctwo weeks,\u201d \u201cthree weeks,\u201d \u201cfour weeks,\u201d \u201cfive weeks,\u201d or \u201csix weeks.\u201d He later announced an agreement with Iran that he said achieved \u201ceverything we set out to accomplish,\u201d only to declare that agreement \u201cover\u201d just weeks later. Now, 200 days into the war, he\u2019s claiming his war will be over \u201cshortly after\u201d the November election.\n\n\u201cNew Mexicans are still paying the price for Donald Trump\u2019s 200-day war in Iran, with no end in sight. This war has cost taxpayers nearly $40 billion, driven up prices for families, depleted critical resources, and put our service members in harm\u2019s way,\u201d said Senator Luj\u00e1n. \u201cYet as this war continues to spiral out of control, Congressional Republicans have repeatedly refused to stand up to President Trump.\u201d\n\n\u201cNew Mexicans should not have to pay more at the pump and at the grocery store for a war they never wanted,\u201d Senator Luj\u00e1n continued. \u201cI will keep fighting to end this war and stop New Mexico families from being forced to foot the bill for this reckless president.\u201d\n\nAmericans are paying for every additional day this war drags on. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the Department of Defense had already incurred approximately $38 billion in costs as of August 1\u2014before the last month and a half of fighting. CBO estimates that every additional month of this war could add another $2 billion to $3 billion to the price tag, not including costs to repair the vast damage Iran has inflicted on our bases or what it will cost to rebuild our depleted munitions supply.\n\nAmericans have also already spent more than $107 billion extra on gasoline and diesel because of Trump\u2019s war, amounting to over $820 per household. The New Mexico average for gas has surged to $4.47 per gallon while diesel has reached a high of $6.34 per gallon. Higher gas and diesel prices are also pushing up Americans\u2019 costs on everything from groceries to home energy to air travel.\n\nTwo hundred days into the conflict, Americans are facing billions in federal costs, nearly two-thirds say going to war was the wrong decision\u2014and there is still no end in sight.\n\nFebruary\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cI can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days.\u201d [Axios, 2/28/26]\n\nMarch\n\nDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth: \u201cWe can say four weeks, but it could be six, it could be eight, it could be three.\u201d [Press Briefing, 3/4/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe\u2019ve already won in many ways, but we haven\u2019t won enough.\u201d [Speech, 3/9/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe had to do a little excursion, if you don\u2019t mind, a little excursion to take care of nuclear weaponry in the hands of maniacs. But other than that, in a couple of weeks and won\u2019t be much longer, it\u2019s moving along fast. We\u2019re way ahead of schedule. Did you know that, Mr. Speaker? I\u2019m trying to save a lot of money by being ahead of schedule. We\u2019re way ahead of schedule.\u201d [Remarks,3/17/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWell, I think we\u2019re going to end it. I can\u2019t tell you for sure. You know, I don\u2019t like to say this, we\u2019ve won this \u2013 this war has been won.\u201d [Press Conference, 3/24/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission, and we\u2019re way ahead of schedule. If you look at what we\u2019ve done in terms of the destruction of that country, I mean, we\u2019re way ahead. Think of it, they have no Navy, and they had good ships. 154 ships have been shot down and are resting very nicely at the bottom of the sea. And we did that in a matter of less than a week, because we have the greatest military in the world by far, nobody even close. So, we estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. 26 days in, we\u2019re extremely \u2013 really a lot ahead of schedule.\u201d [Cabinet Meeting, 3/26/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cI would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three, we\u2019re hitting them very hard. Last night we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile making facilities. We, as you probably read or wrote, we\u2019ll be gone.\u201d [Remarks, 3/31/26]\n\nApril\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cThe war is going to be over in three days. My prediction.\u201d [Remarks, 4/1/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe are the winner. We won.\u201d [Press Conference,4/6/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cIf you told me that we were going to be at only 92 a barrel, $92 a barrel, I would have been very surprised. And you know what? I\u2019m very happy and it\u2019s going to come dropping down very big as soon as it\u2019s over and I think it can be over very soon. If they\u2019re smart, it will end soon.\u201d [Fox Business,4/15/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cI will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly. We can do whatever we want. And it should be ending pretty soon. It was perfect. [Speech, 4/16/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe won everything. We have all the cards.\u201d [Press Gaggle, 4/25/26]\n\nMay\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe\u2019ve taken out much of what we\u2019d have to do,probably another two weeks, two weeks, maybe three weeks.\u201d [Interview,5/4/26]\n\nSecretary of State Marco Rubio: \u201cThe operation is over.\u201d [Press Briefing, 5/5/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cI think we\u2019re going to be finished with that very quickly and they won\u2019t have a nuclear weapon and hopefully we\u2019re going to get it done in a very nice manner.\u201d [Remarks, 5/19/26]\n\nJune\n\nSecretary of State Marco Rubio: \u201cThe war is over.\u201d [Committee Hearing, 6/2/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cYou\u2019re really going to win it over the next two weeks when we declare total victory. It\u2019ll be a total victory. It\u2019ll happen very soon.\u201d [Tele-Rally, 6/8/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cTwo or three days.\u201d [Press Gaggle, 6/9/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cI don\u2019t know if you heard, but we ended the war with Iran today.\u201d [Tele-Rally, 6/11/26]\n\nDefense Secretary Pete Hesgeth: \u201cWe\u2019re on the verge of a deal.\u201d [CBS News Face the Nation, 6/14/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cOn Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish\u2014everything and much more.\u201d [Press Conference, 6/17/26]\n\nJuly\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe have many ways we can win, but we\u2019ve already won militarily. They have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly.\u201d [Press Gaggle, 7/9/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe\u2019ll have Iran defeated soon. They\u2019ll be defeated very soon.\u201d [Remarks, 7/15/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe are, likewise, winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very shortly.\u201d [Remarks, 7/17/26]\n\nAugust\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cWe\u2019re moving along very nicely.\u201d [Press Gaggle,8/5/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cSome good things are going to happen very soon. They\u2019ve already happened.\u201d [Remarks, 8/16/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cI have no time schedule\u2026I\u2019m not in a hurry.\u201d [Fox News,8/17/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cBut right now, I think the situation is so good.\u201d [Press Gaggle, 8/19/26]\n\nSeptember\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cIt\u2019s small potatoes for us. It\u2019s not a big thing.\u201d [Press Briefing, 9/4/26]\n\nPresident Donald Trump: \u201cThe war will be over very shortly after the election.\u201d [Speech, 9/9/26]\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-18T09:27:43Z", "2026-09-18T09:29:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.lujan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/200-days-into-trumps-38-billion-war-with-iran-new-mexicans-are-paying-the-price/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.901974832639098, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}