WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is headed to Capitol Hill Tuesday to face tough questions from senators about the U.S. war against Iran, as Republicans push forward a $95 billion spending package aimed at funding the military effort, providing relief to farmers, and overhauling voting laws.
Hegseth will appear alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee. The hearing comes just days after the military disclosed that three additional American service members have been killed in the conflict, raising the total death toll to 17. More than 100 troops have been wounded since the war began in early July.
Sen. Patty Murray, the leading Democrat on the committee, is sounding the alarm about where this conflict is headed. In prepared remarks, she warned that the fight with Iran “could be another forever war.”
Murray plans to point out that President Donald Trump “has told us over 40 times now that a deal is near, and the war will be over soon,” while now requesting even more money. “But now, he’s asking for $70 billion more — and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out fine,” her prepared statement reads.
The bulk of the new Republican budget proposal is dedicated to war funding. The package also sets aside $10 billion to help farmers struggling under the impact of Trump’s tariffs and another $10 billion for changes to voting laws, which are expected to include new identification requirements. None of the spending is offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget.
Republicans are hoping to move the package through before lawmakers leave Washington to campaign ahead of midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress. The proposal would advance through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the majority party to pass legislation without needing support from Democrats.
A recent AP-NORC poll shows most Americans disapprove of how Trump is managing the Iran situation. Gas prices have climbed as Iran attempts to restrict oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. weapons stockpiles have been stretched thin by the sustained missile campaign, and Trump has moved away from his campaign pledge to keep the country out of long-term military engagements.
Despite the public skepticism, Trump has shown no indication he plans to change course, and Republican lawmakers have largely avoided challenging his approach or using congressional tools to limit the conflict.
House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed reporters at his weekly press briefing Tuesday, saying, “The commander in chief and the whole Department of War are working very hard to bring this to a resolution. There’s a lot of questions about how that will be done.”
Hegseth’s appearance before the committee comes amid broader questions about his leadership at the Pentagon. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer accused the defense secretary of focusing on promoting a testosterone screening program for troops while keeping casualty figures from the public. According to Schumer, nearly 450 service members have been injured since the war began.
“One of the biggest questions Pete Hegseth has to answer today is why he was out marketing testosterone supplements for our troops last week while withholding casualty numbers in the Iran War from the American people,” Schumer said.
Senators have also been pressing Hegseth to release a Pentagon report on a deadly strike on an Iranian primary school that occurred at the start of the war, with some threatening to cut off his travel funding if he fails to do so.
The Senate is expected to take up yet another war powers resolution this week. Lawmakers have now voted nearly a dozen times in attempts to bring the conflict to a halt. The House has already passed a war powers measure that would limit Trump’s ability to continue military operations — with a handful of Republicans crossing party lines to support it — but no resolution has yet passed both chambers and reached the president’s desk.
The Republican budget plan is expected to come up for a House vote this week, which would kick off the process of directing committees to begin writing the legislation. House Speaker Johnson has little room for error, as only a small number of defections from his slim majority could derail the effort.
So far, Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio is the only Republican who has publicly opposed the plan, arguing that adding new spending without corresponding cuts will worsen the national deficit. Several other conservative Republicans share that concern. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans have largely been critical of the House proposal but are waiting to see whether Johnson can get the process moving with this week’s vote.
