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“Every six hours we have another billion-dollar deficit,” said Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “This could cost us a billion dollars there, which means simply another billion-dollar debt that our kids, our grandkids and our great-grandkids are going to have to pay back.”

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, in an analysis this month, estimated that the Libyan no-fly zone could cost $100 million to $300 million per week.

In a classified briefing for congressional staff Tuesday, officials from the State Department, Pentagon and Treasury were pressed on the cost. They declined to address the issue.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, called for Congress to de-fund military operations in Libya, which he estimated costs between $30 million and $100 million a week.

“While the administration assures us that that the U.S. will hand off its lead role to coalition partners within days, we have not been notified of long-term plans or goals following initial air strikes in the country,” Kucinich wrote in a letter to colleagues. “The timeline the president gave to Congress was summarized with one word: ‘limited.’”