The White House has asked lawmakers to approve $87.6bn (£66.5bn), mostly for “urgent needs” connected with the US war on Iran, a day after Congress passed a resolution rebuking the military action.
The bulk of the funding – $67bn – is for the US Department of Defence, the White House said.
But the proposal faces an uphill battle in Congress. The Iran conflict is unpopular with voters ahead of the US midterm elections in November, though a ceasefire is currently in effect.
US President Donald Trump has also found himself at odds with some members of his Republican Party over the issue of Iran, and is alleged to have ended up in an angry exchange with one senator on Wednesday.
That senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, was one of a handful of Republicans who defied the president on Tuesday by voting to pass a measure demanding that he halt the war or seek congressional approval before continuing military action.
Cassidy fell back in line after his alleged sparring with the president, and after receiving assurances from members of Trump’s administration. He and others went on to vote down another similar measure in the Senate late on Wednesday.
The White House Office of Management and Budget sent the formal request for the funds on Wednesday in a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson.
“Most of this request will address urgent needs related to Operation Epic Fury (OEF),” says the letter, referring to the Iran war.
The request includes $21bn for munitions, $17.3bn for operational costs and $12.1bn for classified programmes. It also asks for about $300m to bolster security at US embassies and diplomatic outposts in the Middle East and South Asia after some of them came under attack earlier in the war.
The other requested money would be for unrelated measures, including $11bn for US farmers and $1.4bn to tackle the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa.