Hegseth spars with senators over defense budget, LA in tense hearing

Yahoo

a day ago

Senators from both parties sharply questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about support for Ukraine, the defense budget and the Pentagon's recent deployment of active-duty troops to Los Angeles in a tense hearing Wednesday.
Several times, the secretary talked over or disputed the questions from senators, who also grew visibly frustrated at his answers.
'This is the appropriations committee of the United States Senate. We appropriate the money that you will spend,' Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a feisty exchange over the Trump administration's choice to accept a Qatar-gifted Boeing 747-8 for use as Air Force One.
Hegseth appeared before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, which has been stalled by the Pentagon's late budget request this year. Incoming administrations often take longer to submit their first spending plan, but three months after the usual deadline, Congress still has no detailed request.
'This is officially the latest budget submission of the modern era,' said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., who held up a spreadsheet showing the few details his committee has so far received.
Multiple Republicans on that committee also took issue with what they already knew about that request: specifically, the Pentagon's total earmarked for defense spending.
The administration has said it wants a 13% increase in that budget, but it is including a separate party-line bill, which includes $150 billion for the Pentagon, in its calculations.
'We have two bills and one budget,' Hegseth said.
Many Republicans in Congress have said this other bill is an unpredictable, one-time surge in spending and shouldn't steal from items usually funded in the core defense budget.
'Let's not overstate the [fiscal 2026] request,' said subcommittee chair Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Republican and Democratic Senators also pressed Hegseth on U.S. support for Ukraine, which has slowed during the second Trump administration.
'Russia is the aggressor,' Hegseth said in response to questioning from McConnell on who began the conflict.
Still, the secretary said that the administration's top priority is ending the war.
'Ultimately, peace serves our national interests and, we think, the interest of both parties — even if that outcome will not be preferable to many in this room and many in our country,' Hegseth said, while also suggesting that long-term U.S. aid to Ukraine may fall in the incoming budget request.
Some of the sharpest questions came in response to the Pentagon's approved deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles after a weekend of protests against the administration's immigration policies.
At a hearing before the House on Tuesday, the Pentagon's comptroller said those deployments would last 60 days and cost around $134 million.
It's been 60 years since the federal government last sent troops to a state without the consent of local officials — the last time occurring in Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators. The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has sued for their removal.
'This is not only, I think, illegal but also a diminution of the readiness and the focus of the military,' Reed said.
When Reed asked whether Hegseth would approve the use of military forces or equipment to arrest American citizens — barred unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act — the secretary argued every authority issued so far is 'lawful and constitutional.'
'So the answer is yes,' Reed responded.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine demurred when asked whether the U.S. was currently being invaded — something officials across the Trump administration have repeatedly said in reference to migration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
'At this point in time, I don't see any foreign, state-sponsored folks invading, but I'll be mindful of the fact that there have been some border issues throughout time,' Caine said.
Unlike the House subcommittee on defense, which passed its spending bill Tuesday, the Senate is waiting for the Pentagon's full budget request before finishing its own bill, and several members of the committee signaled there will be difficult negotiations ahead.
Like McConnell, Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, argued the incoming request could hamper many of the Pentagon's major weapons purchases, such as shipbuilding.
'I would point out that the budget overall actually provides less buying power than the FY25 enacted budget because it does not adjust for inflation,' Collins said. 'I hope that's something that we can work together on to correct.'