Priced by the budget office at $38 billion, a figure it calls conservative, the war is being paid at the pump by the farmer who voted for it and now says he can't stay in business.

…(cont) Wednesday the 16th, the Speaker sent the House home a day earlier than scheduled for a seven-week recess so members could "go home to their districts and make the case to the American people." Representative Massie, of our own party, says the early adjournment blocked his impeachment effort against the Secretary. Both things can be true. One of them is a calendar. Also Wednesday, Truthout reported the President has made more stock trades since 2025 than all 535 members of Congress combined, more than 80 trades per market day in his first 17 months. That is confidence in American markets, and confidence is what the farmer needs right now, which is a sentence I would like back.

Thursday the 17th, Moody's Analytics estimated that U.S. consumers have spent $121 billion extra on energy alone since the war began less than eight months ago, an average of $1,760 a household. That is not policy, that is the market, and the market moved because Iran shut commercial shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz in response to our strikes, which is context, and context is not causation, and I would appreciate it if you cut the second half of that clause.

Also Thursday, the U.N. fact-finding mission on Iran said it found "reasonable grounds" that the U.S. military committed war crimes in two airstrikes inside Iran, and The New York Times reported the mission found that mistakes leading to the deaths of more than a hundred children "went beyond negligence." The same mission accused Iran's government of crimes against humanity against its own citizens. The White House responded to the report. I want the whole record in the room, and that is the whole record.

That same Thursday, every Senate Democrat except Senator Fetterman signed an open letter to Secretary Hegseth pressing him for a cost breakdown of the war. The Hill called it largely symbolic and said it reflects frustration. Also Thursday, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby briefed the Senate Armed Services Committee behind closed doors, and lawmakers of both parties came out saying they did not get clear answers on the National Defense Strategy or the ongoing war. Our own senators. So the people with the clearances cannot get the number either, which is — that is a briefing problem, not a war problem. A Fox News poll the same day found 71 percent think the administration lacks a plan to end the Iran war and 60 percent now call the military action the wrong decision. Polls move.

Thursday the President told Axios' Barak Ravid: "I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them, or do I not? It's a big decision. Anything could happen with me."

Friday the 18th, Matt Bell, who has farmed in North Carolina for more than half his life and voted for the President, told CBS News that farmers are "all just in survival mode," that they were "sold a bill of goods," and that "I can't stay in business." Friday, Senator Tillis, who voted to confirm the Secretary, said: "He needs to go." Costco has capped motor oil purchases.

The line is farmers first. The Budget Office says $38 billion, conservatively. Mr. Bell says survival mode. Both figures are official.