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The following is the transcript of the interview with Rep. Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 22, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we’re joined now by Colorado Democratic Congressman Jason Crow. Welcome back.
REP. JASON CROW: Thanks, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you sit on the House Intelligence Committee. This past week, you heard the Director of National Intelligence testify about Iran’s capabilities, saying we wouldn’t see an ICBM that would, in theory, be the thing that would carry a nuclear warhead right to American shores. She said they wouldn’t have one until 2035 if they even tried at all. Is- what- are you afraid she was wrong? Because Israel is saying that what was fired was an ICBM that was aimed at this U.S., U.K. base.
REP. CROW: Yeah, she could be wrong, and we have- obviously have to dive into the intelligence. The question has never been whether or not Iran poses a threat or a series of threats to the United States, but that’s where the analysis begins, not when the analysis ends. Right? We have lots of threats. Kim Jong Un poses a threat. Putin poses a threat. We have threats around the world. The question is, what do we do about it? And right now, we’ve spent $20 billion in the first two weeks of this war alone, one and a half billion dollars a day. Americans are paying $300 million a day extra energy prices. The terror threat around the world against the United States and Americans is spreading. And there’s no off-ramp. We have no strategy and no end-game. This is a mess by any definition, and now we have to figure out what we do from here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So no timeline beyond the four to six weeks has been briefed or shared with Congress at this point.
REP. CROW: No, no, we are not getting the information from this, this administration. They started this war without congressional authorization. There’s no imminent threat. They actually have even stopped trying to pretend there was an imminent threat, which is what is necessary for the president to take action without congressional approval. So now here we are spending tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, losing American lives. Congress isn’t involved. We’ve been stonewalled. The American people are not in the driver’s seat here, right? Because Congress has been sidelined in this they are the ones that need to have the voice and whether or not they’re going to send their sons and daughters to go fight this war, whether or not they’re going to finance it. It’s time for this to end.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let’s take a break. I have more to talk to you about on the other side of it, so all of you, please stay with us. We’ll be right back.
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MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We return now to our conversation with Colorado Congressman Jason Crow. Before we leave the topic of Iran, I do want to ask you, last Sunday on this program, the White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the war was ahead of schedule. And while it was up to the budget office, he didn’t think the administration would need any kind of supplemental funding. But then days later, Secretary Hegseth seemed to confirm the Pentagon needed as much as $200 billion.
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PETE HEGSETH 0:31
far as $200 billion I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes, it takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded for what’s been done, for what we may have to do in the future.
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MARGARET BRENNAN: I know you’re opposed to the war, but is there a way to structure this deal where you would be comfortable with additional funds?
REP. CROW: No, if they think I’m going to vote for hundreds of billions of dollars for an unauthorized war, a war they didn’t come to Congress for, a war they haven’t given an explanation to the American people for what we’re doing and not doing, how it’s going to end, how we’re protecting our service members. And on top of that, the- House Republicans gave DOD, $150 billion slush fund last summer as part of Donald Trump’s big, ugly bill, and on top of that, they say they’re going to come and ask for a one and a half trillion dollar defense budget. And the Department of Defense, to this day, can’t pass an audit. They can’t tell us where all their stuff is, where they’re spending all their money. So I’m not about to throw money at a DOD that can’t pass an audit, is sitting on money that they already haven’t accounted for and haven’t spent and to perpetuate an unauthorized war that is not in America’s interest.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I know you’re a veteran, but you know that the accusation will be made that Democrats just don’t support the troops.
REP. CROW: There is, of course, that’s what they’re going to say. But there is plenty of money within DOD for military families, for troops, for barracks. I have guaranteed that I sit on the Armed Services Committee, and I will continue to push forward and vote to make sure our troops, our military is taken care of, that we have the military that we need to protect America. What I’m not going to do is just throw money at the Iran war, which they’re now admitting is a war. This cannot continue. We spent 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, trillions of dollars. It ends here. It must end here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Tell me, though, as a Democrat, because Congress is scheduled to go on vacation soon, a lot of TSA agents aren’t receiving paychecks because of this democratic-led funding shutdown, because of a demand to change immigration policy, something the White House has not made any concessions* on that I know of to date. This is in the Senate, but as a Democrat, I mean, look at Denver airport near your district. They’re asking people to donate gift cards for TSA agents to make ends meet. The airport says, you know, this is a huge generator in terms of what the airport does for the region. This is hurting your community. How do you continue to defend the shutdown?
REP. CROW: I’m going to be really clear that this is a Republican shutdown–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –The Republicans said–
REP. CROW: –Just yesterday–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –fund it all.
REP. CROW: Just yesterday, the U.S. Senate held a vote, and Senate Democrats put up an authorization to fund everything except for ice and CBP, that’s Coast Guard, that’s TSA, that’s cybersecurity. Every single Senate Republican voted against it. In the House, we actually have a bill, Rosa DeLauro and Hakeem Jeffries. We have a clean bill that would force a vote to open up everything, to fund everything except for ICE and CBP. Republicans are stopping it. They’re not even allowing a vote on that bill. So we are ready to go. They are in control of every–
MARGARET BRENNAN: But in the meantime those people are–
REP. CROW: –facet of government–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –are left stuck. We’re about to be in spring break, heavy traffic season.
REP. CROW: They are in control of every element of government. They’re in control of what we vote for and don’t vote for. We are saying, let’s open it back up. Let’s fund Coast Guard. Let’s fund FEMA. Let’s fund TSA. Let’s fund cybersecurity, which, by the way, we need because we just started a war with Iran, which has a huge cyber capability. We want to fund it. We’re ready to fund it. We will take the votes tomorrow. They’re stopping that vote. They own this shutdown.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman Crow, thank you very much for your time today. We’ll be right back.
*Editor’s Note: The White House submitted a letter to Congress on March 17 outlining some concessions the administration is willing to make.
