In the shadow of a partial Strait of Hormuz closure and midterm elections 37 days away, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana appeared on Face the Nation to defend the administration's Iran posture and its unilateral cancellation of congressionally approved spending — positions that place him in tension with both foreign policy caution and his own party's institutional guardians. Kennedy's remarks reveal a political mind navigating the ancient friction between executive will and legislative authority, between the costs of empire abroad and the cost of eggs at home. His candor — acknowledging the p
Kennedy Backs Iran Pressure, Defends Trump's Spending Cuts on Face the Nation
They're worried about the cost of living, and Iran is inextricably linked.
Mark
So Kennedy says he hasn't seen the classified intelligence about bombing Iran after the midterms. How much weight should we give his position if he's operating without that information?
Mimi
That's the honest part of what he said. He's not pretending to know what he doesn't. But it also means his argument for continuing sanctions is based on what's public—the blockade, the economic pressure. He's comfortable with that strategy as long as it doesn't require troops on the ground.
Luke
Right, but he's also saying Iran made an offer and it wasn't serious. Who told him that? The White House? He's accepting the administration's characterization without independent verification. That matters when you're a senator voting on war policy.
Mark
On the spending cuts—Kennedy defends them by saying Congress appropriates money in broad categories and the bureaucracy wastes it. Is that actually how appropriations work?
Mimi
It's partially true. Congress does appropriate in broad buckets. But the question Susan Collins is raising is whether the president has the legal authority to unilaterally cancel funds Congress has already approved. That's a separation-of-powers question, not a waste question.
Luke
Exactly. Kennedy is conflating two different arguments. One is "this spending is wasteful and should be cut." The other is "the president has the power to cut it unilaterally." Those aren't the same thing. Congress might agree the money is wasted and still say the president can't just cancel it without them.
Mark
Kennedy mentions Russ Vought cutting aid to NGOs supporting illegal immigration and foreign debt relief. Are those actually wasteful, or is that a policy disagreement?
Mimi
That's where it gets political. Whether you think funding NGOs that support immigration is wasteful depends on whether you support that policy. Kennedy is framing it as obvious waste, but others would say it's a legitimate use of foreign aid.
Luke
And we don't know the actual dollar amounts or the specific programs. Kennedy gives examples—Zambia circumcisions, Rwanda buses—but are those the programs being cut now? He's using vivid examples of waste to justify a much broader cancellation. We should be careful not to assume the current cuts are the same as the examples he's citing.
Mark
What about the government ad praising Trump? Kennedy says no public official should use public money for self-promotion, but then he seems to accept it's happening.
Mimi
He's drawing a line and then saying he's not sure it will hold. He thinks there should be a rule, but he's not confident the White House agrees. It's a principled position that he's not sure will be enforced.
Luke
He also proposed a rule that no politician can have a building named after him while alive. That's a different issue—it's about legacy and vanity, not direct spending. It's a clever rhetorical move because it sounds reasonable, but it doesn't actually address whether the government should be running ads praising the sitting president.
The Pulse
- With oil prices climbing and household budgets strained by a partial Strait of Hormuz closure, Kennedy warns that Iran has become an economic issue whether voters know it or not.
- Kennedy flatly rules out deploying troops to reopen the strait — not because they couldn't do it, but because once sent, they would have to stay, pulling the nation into an open-ended entanglement.
- Predicting closer midterms than the experts foresee, Kennedy urges the president to speak directly to the nation about why the U.S. entered Iran, why it believes it is winning, and how it plans to leave.
- Kennedy breaks with Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, defending the president's unilateral cancellation of nearly $1 billion in congressionally approved funds as legitimate pruning of bureaucratic 'spending porn.'
- He draws a firm line, however, at NIH grant cuts and government-funded ads praising the president — insisting that public money must never be bent toward private promotion, and proposing that no politician should have a building named after him while still alive.
In the shadow of a partial Strait of Hormuz closure and midterm elections 37 days away, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana appeared on Face the Nation to defend the administration's Iran posture and its unilateral cancellation of congressionally approved spending — positions that place him in tension with both foreign policy caution and his own party's institutional guardians. Kennedy's remarks reveal a political mind navigating the ancient friction between executive will and legislative authority, between the costs of empire abroad and the cost of eggs at home. His candor — acknowledging the president 'barely takes suggestions' from him — speaks to the lonely dignity of a senator who still believes in the persuasive power of honest counsel.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana joined Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on September 27, 2026, to defend the Trump administration's Iran strategy and its controversial spending cuts — staking out positions that put him at odds with some fellow Republicans while revealing the pressures bearing down on the party ahead of midterm elections now just over a month away.
On Iran, Kennedy said he had not reviewed classified intelligence about a reported secret plan to resume bombing after the midterms. He dismissed a recent Iranian offer as insincere and argued that existing sanctions and the blockade were working — even as he acknowledged their economic toll. The partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz had pushed oil prices higher, touching everything from gasoline to grocery bills. Kennedy ruled out sending troops to reopen the strait, not because they lacked the capability, but because deployment would require an indefinite presence, compounding an already complicated situation.
Having traveled through battleground states, Kennedy said the message from ordinary voters was unmistakable: they were losing sleep over the cost of living, not foreign policy abstractions. He predicted the midterms would be far closer than analysts expected, and urged the president — or Secretary Rubio and General Caine — to deliver a nationwide address explaining the rationale for entering Iran, the basis for confidence, and the path to exit. Kennedy admitted he had offered this advice before and would keep offering it, even knowing the president 'barely takes suggestions' from him.
On spending, Kennedy parted ways with Susan Collins, who had condemned the president's unilateral cancellation of nearly $1 billion in congressionally approved funds as unconstitutional. Kennedy argued that Congress appropriates in broad categories and that bureaucrats fill in the specifics — discretionary choices he called 'spending porn.' He cited programs like circumcision funding in Zambia and electric buses in Rwanda as examples of waste that deserved cutting. He drew the line at NIH grants, which he opposed cutting, but otherwise backed budget director Russ Vought's efforts.
Brennan also pressed Kennedy on a government-funded television commercial praising President Trump as 'the toughest, most resilient person I ever met.' Kennedy, who had previously called a similar self-promotional ad by Kristi Noem 'master class dumb,' said no public official should spend public money on personal advertising. He went further, proposing that no politician should have a building named after him while still alive — a rule already in place in Louisiana, and one he suggested the rest of the country might do well to adopt.
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana sat down with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on September 27, 2026, to defend the Trump administration's approach to Iran and its unilateral spending cuts—positions that put him at odds with some fellow Republicans, including the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
On Iran, Kennedy acknowledged he had not reviewed classified intelligence about a reported secret plan to resume bombing after the midterm elections, set for 37 days away. He dismissed a recent Iranian offer to the administration as insincere and argued that current sanctions and the blockade were working. The economic cost, however, was real: the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz had driven up oil prices, affecting everything from gasoline to household budgets. Kennedy ruled out sending troops to reopen the strait, despite conceding they could do so. Once deployed, he said, they would have to stay, creating a cascade of new complications.
The senator had been traveling to battleground states and had heard a consistent message from voters. Mothers and fathers losing sleep at night were not preoccupied with media bias or coaching staffs, Kennedy said. They were worried about the cost of living—and they understood, however dimly, that Iran was connected to their wallet. He predicted the midterm elections would be closer than experts anticipated and urged the president to focus his messaging on economic concerns. Kennedy also recommended that either the president himself, or Secretary of State Rubio and General Caine, deliver a nationwide address explaining why the administration entered Iran, why it believed it was winning, and how it planned to exit. He had made this suggestion before, he noted, and would keep making it, though he acknowledged the president "barely takes suggestions" from him.
On spending, Kennedy broke with Susan Collins, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, who had condemned the president's unilateral cancellation of nearly $1 billion in congressionally approved funds as a violation of the law and an assault on Congress's constitutional power of the purse. Kennedy argued that Congress had not truly approved the specific programs being cut. When Congress appropriates money, he explained, it does so in broad categories—say, $250 million to improve relations with sub-Saharan Africa—and then the bureaucracy decides how to spend it. That discretionary spending, Kennedy called "spending porn." He cited examples: millions of dollars for circumcisions in Zambia, electric buses in Rwanda. The cuts Russ Vought, the budget director, wanted to make targeted aid to nongovernmental organizations supporting illegal immigration and foreign debt relief—not American debt, but other nations' debts. Kennedy said Congress should cut this waste itself but was glad Vought was doing it since Congress was not. He drew the line at cuts to NIH grants, which he opposed, but the broader principle stood: bureaucratic waste deserved to be eliminated.
Brennan pressed Kennedy on a different kind of spending: a 30-second commercial running on major networks and cable, paid for by the U.S. government, that featured President Trump and praised him as "the toughest, most resilient person I ever met." Kennedy had previously criticized then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem for spending $220 million on commercials promoting herself—a decision he called "master class dumb." Now, asked whether a government-funded ad praising the president was appropriate, Kennedy said no public official should spend public money on private advertising. He went further, proposing a rule that no politician should have a building named after him while still alive. Louisiana had such a rule, he noted, and it worked well. Whether Kennedy would introduce such legislation remained unclear, but his position was firm: the line between public funds and personal promotion should not be blurred.
Notable Quotes
When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can't, they're not lying there worried about whether the football coaches are happy or whether the press is biased. They're worried about the cost of living.— Sen. John Kennedy
I don't think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves.— Sen. John Kennedy
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