Hegseth, Caine testify on Iran supplemental amid escalation: What to know

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are set to testify in front of the Senate on Tuesday on the White House’s supplemental funding request, days after an escalation in the U.S.-Iran war left three service members dead.

Hegseth and Caine, along with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. to defend the administration’s $87 billion supplemental spending request.

It includes $67 billion for defense funding, and lawmakers in both parties are seeking clarity on the longer-term strategy in Iran and what the Pentagon intends to do with the money. 

The supplemental, which the White House formally asked Congress for on June 24, would pay for the Iran war, help curtail the Ebola outbreak and provide aid to U.S. farmers, along with other requests.

At the time, the supplemental received an icy reception among Democrats, whose votes will be needed to greenlight the measure. Their stance on the bill does not appear to have changed much in the ensuing weeks. 

The testimony from Hegseth and Caine will be their first extensive public remarks since the U.S. war with Iran ramped up in July. U.S. forces have bombarded Iran for 10 consecutive days as President Trump seeks to squeeze Tehran’s regime and retaliate for Iran’s targeting of commercial ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz. 

Iran has responded by targeting U.S. outposts in the Gulf, striking Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar and inflicting structural and personnel damage. Two U.S. service members have been killed in recent days in Jordan and one in Iraq, developments that Democrats on the panel will likely press Hegseth and Caine over. 

The Pentagon said Monday that nearly 100 service members have been injured since July 7 and that 96 percent of them have returned to duty. 

The cost of the Iran war has gone up, another topic that lawmakers could ask Hegseth and Caine about. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought previously told Congress the cost of the conflict was around $30 billion, but experts who spoke with The Hill said the figure is far higher.  

Linda J. Bilmes, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan senior lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the cost of the war is around $100 billion, calling that the “tip of the iceberg costs.” 

Senate Democrats pressed Jay Hurst, President Trump’s nominee to serve as Pentagon comptroller, last week over the cost of the conflict, but he told lawmakers he did not have updated estimates because “I haven’t been in the position of comptroller, but if confirmed, I’m happy to work with you to get that answer.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Hurst last Tuesday that based on her math, the figure is around $98 billion. 

Hegseth and Caine last testified before Congress in early May on the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request, around the same time the duo briefed the press on the operations in Iran. The last news media briefing the Pentagon held about kinetic operations against Iran was on May 5. 

Before appearing in front of the Senate committee, Hegseth will hold a classified briefing Tuesday morning with several House and Senate lawmakers on the Iran war and the supplemental funding request, a Pentagon source and another source familiar with the matter told The Hill and its sister network, NewsNation. 

Joe Khalil of NewsNation contributed to the report.

Updated at 10:14 a.m. EDT

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