Hegseth Hearing Ends in Yelling Match

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced questions and protests Tuesday over the US war with Iran, which he estimated has cost $37.5 billion so far as Republicans prepare a $95 billion GOP budget package to fund the military, along with other White House priorities. Hegseth provided the new estimate, up from earlier assessments, during a fiery hearing at the Senate Appropriations Committee. Senators asked pointed questions and several times protesters interrupted Hegseth's opening remarks, the AP reports.

• Hegseth said the supplemental war funding is an "urgent, necessary" injection of money and, with President Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, a generational investment in the military. "Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls," Hegseth testified.

• But Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, warned of "another forever war." "This war is now spiraling out of control again," Murray said in her opening remarks. She said Trump has said repeatedly that "a deal is near, and the war will be over soon. But now, he's asking for $70 billion more—and for us to just trust him it'll all work out fine."
• Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen questioned why Hegseth is asking for more money when the department has not yet spent about half the $150 billion Republicans provided the Pentagon in last year's big budget bill. "Why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don't support?" asked Shaheen. When Hegseth started describing the "historic nature" of Trump's military strategy, she cut him off. Hegseth later explained that the rest of last year's budget package would be spent by September. He declined to say whether the Pentagon would request additional funds to repair bases in the Middle East damaged in the conflict, the Washington Post reports.
• Hegseth appeared before the panel facing a torrent of questions about not only the war, but his own leadership of the department. Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the committee, opened the hearing saying it's "deeply troubling" that the Pentagon has blocked or denied promotions to various officers, particularly women and minorities. "This is likely to discourage well-qualified women and individuals of color from joining our armed forces, thus depriving us of their talent, dedication, and patriotism," Collins said.

• Senators from both parties pressed Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the war. Republican Sen. John Kennedy became "visibly frustrated" with vague answers on issues including the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, the New York Times reports. Asked by Democratic Sen. Jack Reed if he thought the war would escalate to include ground operations, Caine said it "would be unhelpful for me to opine on hypotheticals."
• The BBC reports that the hearing ended in a shouting match, with Democratic Sen. Gary Peters slamming the "forever war" and calling Hegseth a "failure." Hegseth told Peters that he has "Trump derangement syndrome."
• Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also testified before the panel. The proposed budget package includes $60 billion and $12 billion for other national security needs, along with $10 billion for farm aid and $10 billion for voting law changes. The GOP budget proposal is expected to flow through the reconciliation process, which enables the majority to approve the plan on its own, over the objections of Democrats in the minority.