Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that failing to fund the Pentagon at the $1.5 trillion level the department has requested “is the greatest threat that our nation faces,” framing the department’s budget request as more urgent than any single overseas conflict as he pressed lawmakers to approve a multibillion-dollar supplemental funding package tied largely to the ongoing war with Iran.
Hegseth appeared before the committee alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to defend the Trump administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request, submitted to Congress on June 24. Of that total, $67 billion is directed toward defense needs, with the remainder allocated to other administration priorities, including containment of an Ebola outbreak and aid to American farmers.
Opening Remarks Frame Pentagon as Rebuilt Under Trump
In his opening statement, Hegseth argued that the military inherited by the Trump administration had suffered from what he called “neglected priorities and gross negligence that ignored threats left over from the previous administration,” resulting in “deferred maintenance almost across the board.” He said former defense leaders had allowed the armed forces to languish “through social experiments and globalist appeasement,” which he characterized as “sheer weakness.”
Hegseth told the committee that the Pentagon now operates differently. “The Pentagon is no longer run by bureaucrats,” he said. “Instead, it’s led by combat tested veterans and world class business leaders who are running the department like a business and tech titans who are bringing lethal innovation to the battlefield.” He argued that the department cannot afford inaction on emerging technology, warning that adversaries already investing in artificial intelligence, autonomy and space capabilities “could outpace us” if the United States does not make comparable investments now.
Breaking Down the Request: $21 Billion for Readiness, $46 Billion for Capabilities
Hegseth described the supplemental request as serving two distinct purposes: sustaining military readiness to meet this year’s operational demands, and accelerating capabilities to replace and augment equipment expended in recent contingencies. He was explicit that the request should not be viewed as a simple replacement of what has already been used. “This is not a one for one replacement,” he said. “We are upgrading and we are modernizing across the force.”
On the readiness side, Hegseth said the department is requesting $21 billion, which would fund military pay, replace equipment used during recent operations, sustain forward-deployed forces, grow personnel strength, stabilize fuel shortfalls the department has described as mission-critical, and support the National Guard. On the capabilities side, he said the department is requesting $46 billion to expand production lines and accelerate delivery of high-demand munitions, specifically naming solid rocket motors, JDAMs, hypersonic weapons and counter-drone systems. He added that the investment would also be used to pursue “digital and space dominance,” including resilient satellite networks.
Hegseth told lawmakers that appropriating the funds is only the first step, and that the department is seeking additional legislative authorities to execute quickly once money is allocated. Those include transfer authority to prioritize the department’s greatest needs, multiyear procurement authority for weapon systems, and new-start authorities intended to speed up the scale of munitions procurement.
The Central Warning: A $1.5 Trillion Threshold
The most pointed language in Hegseth’s testimony centered on the department’s broader annual budget request, distinct from the Iran-related supplemental. “Rest assured that every dollar appropriated to the Department of War will be focused on building the lethality of our joint force and reinforcing peace through strength,” Hegseth said, before turning to what he described as a defining threshold for the department. “As I have said before, not fully funding this department, the Department of War — and we know what that means. That means $1.5 trillion, given the world that we live in and the disaster of what the Biden administration budgets gave us.”
He then delivered the testimony’s most direct claim: “Not funding this department at $1.5 trillion, I believe, is the greatest threat that our nation faces.” Hegseth framed the choice facing Congress in binary terms, telling the committee, “Either we invest in our warriors at this moment of step change on the battlefield and growing threats, or this is all just talk.” He closed his opening statement by telling lawmakers he looked forward to working with the committee “to secure those funds so that our war fighters can continue to do their work every day to keep our great republic safe.”
The $1.5 trillion figure Hegseth referenced is the Pentagon’s broader annual budget request, which he and Caine had previously testified about before Congress in early May, separate from the $87.6 billion supplemental now before the committee. Republicans in Congress have also been preparing a roughly $95 billion GOP budget package intended to help fund the military alongside other administration priorities.
Testimony Comes Amid an Escalating War and Rising Costs
Tuesday’s hearing marked Hegseth’s first extensive public testimony on the costs of the Iran war in more than two months, and it came at a moment of financial strain for the department. During the hearing, Hegseth updated the committee on the total cost of the conflict to date, estimating it at $37.5 billion, an increase from earlier assessments. The hearing followed the Pentagon’s announcement that three additional American service members had died in the conflict, raising the death toll to 17, with more than 100 troops injured since early July.
Hegseth described the supplemental funding as an “urgent, necessary” injection of resources for the department, though he did not directly reference the Iran war by name in his opening statement. He told Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, that the first casualty of continued underfunding would be military training. “There is training — training right now and training in the future — that would have to be curtailed if we do not get our budget needs met and met urgently,” he said.
His warning echoed one issued in May by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, who told Congress that without supplemental funding for the Iran war, he would be forced to implement cuts to training, routine operations and personnel.
Senators Press on Munitions, Strategy and Foreign Involvement
Gen. Caine, testifying alongside Hegseth, argued that the supplemental funding was essential not only to current operations but to maintaining weapons stockpiles for the future. When Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., asked what would happen if Congress failed to pass the roughly $21 billion in the request earmarked for munitions, Caine underscored the risk to long-term stockpile health.
Questioning also touched on the roles of China and Russia in the ongoing conflict. Responding to Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., Hegseth said the United States has multiple ways of deterring outside involvement in the war, though he said the extent of those efforts “ought to remain classified.” China remains one of Iran’s most significant oil buyers, and Russia, a close partner of Tehran, has hosted Iranian officials in Moscow during the conflict.
Opening Statement Repeatedly Interrupted by Protesters
Hegseth’s opening remarks were disrupted multiple times by protesters inside the hearing room, forcing him to restart his statement on several occasions. Several protesters were later arrested. Despite the interruptions, Hegseth maintained his central message throughout the hearing, telling the panel at one point, “We know the best way to create peace is to prepare for war, to deter it.”
Democrats Challenge Administration’s Track Record
Not all of the questioning focused on the substance of the funding request. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., used his time to directly challenge Hegseth’s leadership of the war effort, invoking earlier criticism attributed to a former defense official. “You are back now before Congress asking for almost $70 billion in additional funding,” Peters said, adding that the administration was “asking the American people for a blank check” after what he called “an utter and complete failure to win this war to this point.”
The hearing also drew scrutiny from within the Republican conference. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., separately criticized the inclusion of more than $11 billion for the Department of Agriculture within the broader Iran war supplemental package, calling the pairing “ironic.”
What Comes Next
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s questioning of Hegseth and Caine is expected to shape how quickly the $87.6 billion supplemental moves through Congress, where Democratic votes remain necessary for passage. The hearing gave lawmakers their first sustained public opportunity to question the administration’s war strategy and its mounting costs directly, at a moment when the Pentagon’s own budget maneuvering — including reallocating billions of dollars away from training and procurement — has signaled financial strain the department says it can no longer absorb without new funding from Congress.