WASHINGTON — House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the department’s budget, Russia and the defense acquisition process during a hearing Thursday.  

Democrats had testy exchanges with Hegseth over Greenland and Signal.

Rogers, R-Saks, opened up the hearing examining the Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2026 budget, calling the delay in Congress receiving the full budget request from the Office of Management and Budget “unacceptable.” 

“​​It’s impacting our ability to move forward with the (National Defense Authorization Act), the next big step in enacting the President’s Peace Through Strength agenda,” Rogers said. “That’s a problem because threats to our national security have never been more urgent or complex.” 

President Donald Trump’s preliminary budget request proposes $961.6 billion for DOD, which is about $113 billion higher than the last fiscal year’s budget, but that number includes more than $100 billion in defense spending proposed in the reconciliation plan. Without that increase in spending from reconciliation, the DOD’s budget would remain flat from FY 2025. 

Rogers told Hegseth that the investment in the megabill is a “great first step,” but asked if Hegseth shared the opinion on whether there should be continued growth in funding for the Pentagon. 

“We believe the policies of this administration will lead to peace and more opportunities, but as our adversaries continue to increase their capabilities and we learn about what’s happening on the battlefield, that will lead to commensurate increases in ours,” Hegseth said. “So, we anticipate through that review that there probably will be increases but I wouldn’t put a number to it in the future.” 

In response, Rogers said he agrees with the Trump administration pushing for NATO countries to hit 5% of their GDP on defense and said “that includes us,” urging the president to continue to make that investment throughout his term in office. 

In his opening remarks, Rogers also touched on adversaries joining together, like with Russia and North Korea, to support one another with drones and munitions, such as in Ukraine. 

“Make no mistake, a Russian victory in Ukraine would also be a victory for China, North Korea, and Iran,” Rogers said. “We cannot let that happen. Russia must be stopped.”  

Rogers and the Armed Services Committee’s top Democrat introduced bipartisan legislation this week to modernize and reform the defense acquisition process, dubbed the SPEED Act. The chairman asked Hegseth what his plan was to reform the process used to get new military capabilities in the hands of servicemembers faster.

“Streamlining processes, consolidating, we need competition in actual new entrants into acquisitions in a stale process,” Hegseth said. “It’s too bureaucratic. There are too many gatekeepers.” 

While Rogers’ exchanges with Hesgeth were civil, Democrats had fiery interactions with the secretary on a range of issues, including efforts to acquire Greenland and Panama, the Signal leak, and the protests in Los Angeles. 

Rep. Adam Smith, D-WA, the committee’s ranking member, asked Hegsteh in a heated exchange if the DOD was prepared to take Panama or Greenland by force.   

“Our job at the Defense Department is to have plans for any contingency,” Hegseth said. 

Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio then tried to “help” Hegseth out, saying, “people try to twist your words” on whether or not he had plans to invade the countries with force.

“All my testimony is that the Pentagon has plans for any number of contingencies,” Hegseth replied. 

“I sure as hell hope that is not your testimony,” Turner said in response. 

Hegseth also appeared in front of other congressional committees this week, including House Appropriations, when Aderholt questioned Hegseth about the Golden Dome. Huntsville is expected to play a key part in the missile defense shield. 

“The Golden Dome initiative represents, in my opinion, a substantial investment in our national security, and I credit this administration in pursuing this bold project, and I share your ambition for it,” Aderholt said.