WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to undergo another intense round of questioning from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Thursday marks the first occasion for senators to directly address or commend the Pentagon leader regarding his management of the ongoing conflict in Iran.
In a marathon session the previous day, Hegseth endured nearly six hours of intense scrutiny from both Democrats and some Republicans during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. The primary focus was on the conflict’s financial costs, the loss of lives, and the rapidly depleting reserves of essential weaponry.
On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee will receive a similar briefing concerning the Trump administration’s proposed military budget for 2027, which seeks to escalate defense spending to an unprecedented $1.5 trillion. Hegseth, alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is expected to advocate for the acquisition of additional drones, missile defense systems, and naval vessels.
Moreover, Hegseth and Caine are likely to encounter probing queries about American troop deployments in Europe following President Donald Trump’s recent warning directed at NATO ally Germany. This follows a disagreement with Chancellor Friedrich Merz pertaining to the Iranian conflict, with Trump suggesting a possible reduction of U.S. military forces stationed in Germany.
The previous day’s proceedings suggested that Republican senators might concentrate on the specifics of military expenditures and express their backing for the Iranian operation. Conversely, Democrats are anticipated to demand clarity on the strategy behind the conflict, which currently stands in a fragile ceasefire, and to question Hegseth about the dismissal of high-ranking military officials.
Democrats have labeled the conflict as an expensive, elective war lacking both congressional approval and oversight. Despite this, Congress has repeatedly been unable to pass war powers resolutions that would mandate legislative authorization for military actions.
Questions that lawmakers have wanted to ask since the war began on Feb. 28 were answered – or evaded – at Wednesday’s hearing.
For example, the war has cost $25 billion so far, mostly in munitions, Pentagon officials said. But Hegseth refused to answer questions about how much longer the war would last or how much more it could cost.
Hegseth also said a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed more than 165 people, including many children, remains under investigation. The Associated Press has reported that growing evidence pointed to U.S. culpability for the strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base.
Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan questioned Hegseth over whether the deaths of six American soldiers by a drone strike in Kuwait could have been prevented. Hegseth didn’t answer the question directly but said the military took proactive measures to protect American forces.
In another tense exchange, Hegseth told Democratic Rep. Adam Smith that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated in U.S. strikes last June. That led Smith to question the Trump administration’s reasoning for starting the war in Iran less than a year later.
“We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,” said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”
Hegseth responded by saying that the Iranians “had not given up their nuclear ambitions” and still had thousands of missiles.
Smith said the war “left us at exactly the same place we were before.”
The defense secretary also faced questions about his decision to oust the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump returned to office.
Hegseth said “new leadership” was needed, a claim that failed to satisfy Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat.
“You have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men,” Houlahan began before Hegseth interrupted her. “We needed new leadership,” he repeated.
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