US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth faced protests and tough questions in the Senate on Tuesday over the US war with Iran, as Republicans moved ahead with a USD 95 billion budget package focused mainly on military funding and other White House priorities. Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the war has cost USD 37.5 billion so far, a rise from earlier estimates.

The hearing came as Republicans prepared to push the package before lawmakers leave to campaign for the midterm elections. Hegseth’s testimony also came days after the Pentagon said three more American service members had died in the conflict, taking the death toll to 17, and that more than 100 had been injured since early July. Several protesters interrupted his opening remarks.

Hegseth said the supplemental war funding was an ‘urgent, necessary’ injection of money and described President Donald Trump’s proposed USD 1.5 trillion defence budget as a generational investment in the military. ‘Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,’ he told the panel. But Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the committee, warned of ‘another forever war’. ‘This war is now spiralling out of control again,’ she said, adding, ‘Trump has told us over 40 times now that a deal is near, and the war will be over soon. But now, he’s asking for USD 70 billion more - and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out fine.’

Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also appeared before the committee. The proposed package includes USD 10 billion in farm aid and USD 10 billion for voting law changes. Before the hearing, the White House urged support for the budget resolution ‘without modification-immediately’.

War funding forms the biggest part of the Republican plan, which also aims to help farmers affected by Trump’s tariffs and pay for voter law changes likely to include new ID requirements, without offsets elsewhere. According to an AP-NORC poll, most Americans continue to disapprove of how Trump is handling Iran. Gas prices have risen as Iran works to control oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, US munitions are running low after repeated missile strikes, and Trump has moved away from his campaign promise not to draw the US into prolonged military conflicts. Even so, Republicans have largely not challenged his strategy. House Speaker Mike Johnson said, ‘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.’ Trump also asked all House Republicans in a social media post to vote for the budget resolution.

Hegseth also faced criticism over his leadership of the department. Senator Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the committee, said it was ‘deeply troubling’ that the Pentagon had blocked or denied promotions to various officers, especially women and minorities. ‘This is likely to discourage well-qualified women and individuals of colour from joining our armed forces, thus depriving us of their talent, dedication and patriotism,’ Collins said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer accused Hegseth of focusing on testosterone screenings for troops instead of publicly disclosing the latest casualty figures from the Iran war. Schumer said nearly 450 service members had been injured since the start of the war. ‘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 pressed Hegseth to release the Pentagon’s report on the deadly attack on an Iran primary school at the start of the war and have threatened to withhold his travel budget unless he does so.

The Senate is due to consider another war powers resolution this week after nearly a dozen earlier votes aimed at stopping the conflict. The House has already passed a war powers resolution to limit Trump’s ability to wage war, with a few Republicans joining Democrats, but no measure has cleared both chambers. The budget plan is expected to move through reconciliation, allowing Republicans to advance it without Democratic support. It is headed for a House vote this week, though Speaker Johnson can afford only a few defections. Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio has already objected, saying the plan would add to deficits because the new spending is not offset, and other conservatives have voiced similar concerns. Republican senators have also criticised the House plan, but are waiting to see if this week’s vote gets the process moving.

The hearing brought together the rising cost of the Iran war, fresh casualty figures, questions over Pentagon leadership and a Republican push to pass a major funding package before the midterm campaign break.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends

Published By:

India Today Web Desk

Published On:

Jul 22, 2026 02:40 IST