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America’s top uniformed and civilian military leaders made their case in the Senate on Tuesday for an emergency funding package of nearly $80 billion to help replenish stockpiles spent during the Iran war and fund other Trump administration priorities.
Democrats were highly skeptical of the request, asking why U.S. taxpayers should continue footing the bill for a war they don’t support — particularly with the Pentagon sitting on billions of unspent funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly pinned the blame on the Biden administration for underinvesting in the military and prioritizing weapons for Ukraine, while admitting the military was facing immediate funding shortfalls as the price tag on the Iran war rises.
While Hegseth and Democrats exchanged pointed barbs throughout the hearing, tensions didn’t boil over until the final minutes of the hearing, when Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) pressed the Pentagon chief on his dubious claims of victory in Iran and “failure” as a leader.
Here are key takeaways from the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.
Hegseth warns of training cuts without immediate funding
The Defense secretary said the first casualty of dwindling Pentagon funding would be training.
“There is training — training right now and training in the future — that would have to be curtailed if we do not get our budget needs met and met urgently,” Hegseth told Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine).
That echoed a warning in May from Naval Operations Chief Adm. Daryl Caudle, who told Congress that without supplemental funding for the U.S. war in Iran, he will have to implement cuts to training, routine operations and personnel by July.
Both Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, argued the supplemental funding request was also crucial to maintaining healthy weapons stockpiles, both now and into the future.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) asked Caine what would happen if Congress failed to pass the $21 billion in the supplemental request set aside for munitions.
“If we don’t, as a team, figure out how to properly fund the department, and you know, we’re not going to get the munitions, and there’s going to be a lack of shared risk between the federal government and the private sector,” Caine said.
Fischer asked Caine what his “Plan B” would be if the supplemental funding isn’t approved.
“We will always figure things out. We will always have contingencies. We will always determine a way to create multiple simultaneous dilemmas for adversaries around the world,” Caine said.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) asked Caine where the military would be hit hardest should the funding request fail.
“It’ll be in military personnel-related matters. We’ll figure out how to pay soldiers and sailors, but that would be a strain,” Caine said, also listing operations and maintenance costs and “future combat capability” in areas such as AI, drones and space.
Democrats eye unspent Pentagon funding
Democratic senators repeatedly returned to what they said was $75 billion in unspent funds allocated to the Pentagon under the GOP’s reconciliation bill passed last year.
“Well, you’ve told this committee that you’ve barely spent half of the $150 billion in reconciliation funding, and if you still have $75 billion available, why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don’t support instead of asking for transfer authority for unspent reconciliation funding,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) asked Hegseth.
Hegseth said the funding had already been earmarked for Trump administration priorities such as building a “Golden Dome” missile defense system and scaling up production of hypersonic weapons.
“And so reallocating that away from those priorities is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Those are allocated to rebuild,” he said.
Questioned later by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Hegseth said 95 percent of the $75 billion in previously approved spending would be allocated by the end of September.
“So this is a new request based on new realities of a world we face, stepping up to meet that moment,” Hegseth said.
Coons questioned why the Pentagon wasn’t prioritizing the immediate needs of U.S. forces with available funds, such as keeping ships and planes running. He also asked why the Pentagon had not clawed back funds from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for its assistance in immigration enforcement and border security.
“We requested reimbursement and are getting a substantial reimbursement from DHS,” Hegseth responded.
“That’s good news, and that’s news to me,” Coons said.
Iran war price tag surges
Hegseth provided Congress with an updated figure on the cost of the Iran war, stating in an exchange with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that the price tag of the conflict is around $37.5 billion.
The number marks the latest assessment from the Pentagon after White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Congress last month the cost of the conflict was around $30 billion.
Hegseth said Tuesday the sum covers the operations through July “for certain aspects,” but also military pay and “other anticipated costs” through Sept. 30.
The cost of the conflict has gone up as hostilities have escalated in the region, with the U.S. military striking Iran for 10 consecutive days. Iran has retaliated against four U.S. allies in the region, targeting U.S. outposts in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Qatar.
The figure provided by Hegseth is in line with some outside assessments, but it is lower than what other experts have estimated.
Linda J. Bilmes, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan senior lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, told The Hill earlier this month the cost is about $100 billion, calling those “tip of the iceberg costs.”
Hegseth said in a written testimony to Congress that it will cost about $2 billion to replace equipment lost or damaged during combat operations against Iran.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) pressed Hegseth on how the administration justified its spending on Iran when American farmers and consumers are struggling.
“You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families, and I don’t know how this administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people,” she said.
“Not unlimited bombs, senator. I’m asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries into the future, and that’s why this is a generational investment,” Hegseth replied.
Hegseth confirms China, Russia helping Iran
Hegseth acknowledged that Russia and China are aiding Iran during the war against the U.S.
“There’s definitely adversary alignment. Attempts to do so, and there are many ways that we deter that, some of which are, and the depth and extent of it ought to remain classified, and it should,” Hegseth told Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). “But there are ways in which both of those countries are, at different levels, enabling some of the things Iran is doing.”
China is Iran’s most powerful oil buyer. Some Chinese companies have reportedly tried selling weapons to Iran.
Russia, a close partner of Tehran, has hosted Iranian officials in Moscow. Russia has provided some targeting data to Iran during the war with the U.S.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed during a March Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on “Worldwide Threats” that Iran was seeking intelligence assistance from Russia, China and other U.S. rivals.
“The Iranians are requesting intelligence assistance from Russia, from China and from other adversaries of the United States, and whether or not those countries are [providing assistance] is something we can talk about in the classified portion,” Ratcliffe told senators.
Collins slams Hegseth over firings
Collins slammed Hegseth for the removal of more than two dozen senior military officers since taking the helm at the Pentagon.
“I find this deeply troubling,” Collins said during her opening statement. “These are men and women who volunteered to serve our country and swore an oath to support and defend our Constitution.”
Collins, who is running in a competitive reelection race, highlighted last year’s firing of Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was the first woman to lead the Navy.
Since taking on his role at the Pentagon, Collins said, the Defense secretary has removed senior military officers, blocked promotions across three service branches and intervened in several senior officers’ assignments.
The removals, such as of former Army chief of staff Gen. Randy George and the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, Gen. Chris Donahue, along with blocked promotions, have sparked bipartisan concerns in Congress.
The Maine Republican also highlighted news reports that women and people of color were “disproportionately” fired or sidelined, stating that these actions will likely discourage well-qualified women and individuals of color from joining the armed forces, “thus depriving us of their talent, dedication and patriotism.”
“The United States military is one of the greatest meritocracies in the free world,” Collins said. “We need to make sure that it stays that way.”
Ossoff, Peters close out hearing with sharp questions
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) sparred with Hegseth over claims of “overwhelming victory” in Iran.
Ossoff repeatedly pressed the Pentagon chief over his statement from March saying that the Iranian military “destroyed” and “made combat ineffective,” asking if that was an accurate statement.
“They didn’t have a navy any longer. It was completely sunk. Their missiles were buried underneath a lot of their underground facilities and their defense industrial base has been almost completely destroyed. So, as far as a military assessment of Iran’s capabilities, it didn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination absolute zero,” Hegseth responded.
Ossoff asked the same question two more times, accusing Hegseth of dodging the question.
“What the American military has done to the Iranian military is a historic military defeat,” the defense secretary said before the Georgia senator asked him if he would “answer the question under oath.”
Then Ossoff pointed to Hegseth’s statements from April declaring Operation Epic Fury was a “historic and overwhelming victory” and that the U.S. achieved “every single objective.”
“It certainly was on behalf of the men and women in uniform, a historic military victory over Iran,” Hegseth said.
The two continued talking over one another regarding the U.S. military’s success in Iran before Ossoff raised his voice and asked whether Iran’s military has been combat ineffective for the last four months.
“It’s been set back not just years, but likely decades,” Hegseth said.
Ossoff pressed again about the U.S. achieving its objectives, to which Hegseth said that “no one” ever said that every Iranian missile is “gone” and that combat-ineffective means “they’are not able to dig them out of their UGFs and shoot them.”
“It doesn’t mean they don’t have underground facilities where they put missiles in them and hold on to them because they’re the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism,” the defense secretary said. “So we never expected they would stop having capabilities to shoot.”
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) continued grilling Hegseth, stating the administration does not have a “clear winning strategy” and risks being plunged into another “forever war.” He asked the Pentagon chief if his strategy for the conflict is different now.
“I think your characterization of this incredible effort as a failure is reckless, and I think it’s irresponsible, and I think it smears the sacrifice of the troops that are out there making on behalf of the American people to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” Hegseth told Peters.
“Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure, and then you want to turn around and say you support the warfighter. Either you do or you don’t,” Hegseth said.
He then objected to Peters’s use of word “failure” when speaking about the conflict, prompting a sharp response from the Michigan senator.
“Because I use the word ‘failure’ to their leaders. You sir are the failure, not the men and women who are on that front line, not the men and women who hold up their honor with distinction, but if there’s a lack of a winning strategy, they’re in harm’s way,” the senator said. Their leaders have failed them, and that’s what’s happening.
“You don’t have a strategy. You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war,” Peters said while raising his voice.
Hegseth fired back, accusing Peters and other Democrats of playing partisan politics and refusing to greenlight the funds for the military.
“You won’t show any political courage to actually fund our department because you have Trump derangement syndrome and can’t actually commit to anything meaningful,” the defense secretary said. “So I put this on you, senator.”
Updated at 7:11 p.m. EDT
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