Hegseth and Caine to testify before Senate panel amid Iran war escalation

Washington — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will testify before a Senate committee Tuesday amid escalations in the war with Iran in recent days.

With a focus on the Trump administration’s supplemental funding request, the hearing comes as at least two U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian attack Friday, while another service member died in Iraq during a controlled explosion to destroy an Iranian drone. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.

The deaths bring the total number of service members killed since the war began in February to 17. Nearly 100 American service members have been injured in multiple Iranian strikes on bases across the Middle East this month, officials told WTX US News. Meanwhile, the U.S. carried out a 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian military infrastructure Monday, after a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran collapsed.  

Hegseth and Caine last testified about the war at hearings in May, not long after the pair delivered their most recent public briefing to the press. On Tuesday, they’re tasked with defending the administration’s request for $67 billion for the Pentagon to help cover the cost of the war. 

Last month, the administration asked Congress for $88 billion, with the bulk of the funds aimed at covering the cost of the conflict, including $21 billion for munitions, $17.3 billion for operational costs and $12.1 billion for classified programs. The long-anticipated supplemental funding package also included a request for funds for efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in African countries, along with $11.1 billion for farm aid. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins will testify alongside Hegseth and Caine Tuesday as they make a pitch for the additional funds.

Hegseth and Caine testified before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees in May as the Pentagon sought $1.5 trillion in the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal. In late April, a defense official testified alongside Hegseth that the war had cost about $25 billion.

The leaders will almost certainly face questions about the latest figures during Tuesday’s hearing. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee, will highlight the cost of the war, according to a Democratic committee aide, while emphasizing the funds the Pentagon already received in the GOP’s “one big, beautiful bill” last year. 

“The American people want to see a quick and strategic end to this war, not $70 billion of their tax dollars sent to keep it going,” Murray will say in her opening remarks. 

But the pushback could come from Republicans as well. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the committee, has been among a handful of Republicans to cross the aisle in support of resolutions to rein in Mr. Trump’s war powers in Iran. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also sits on the committee and has likewise voted with Democrats on the war powers resolutions. 

House Republicans have been pursuing the funds for the Pentagon through the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party in power to approve measures with direct budgetary consequences without help from across the aisle. But a number of key GOP senators, including Collins and Murkowski, have cast doubt on the prospects of a third reconciliation bill in the Senate. And Majority Leader John Thune has remained noncommittal. 

Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said last week that reconciliation “is very different in the House than it is in the Senate,” noting that GOP members in the upper chamber will want to have input. He pointed to the overall figures for the Defense and Agriculture departments, possible offsets for the funds, and the Senate’s restrictions over what can make it into a reconciliation package as possible hurdles. 

“I’ve said all along … that it’s an option,” Thune said. “But it’s not, certainly, the only option.”