Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced tough questions from lawmakers during a Senate hearing Tuesday as he defended the White House’s $67 billion funding request for the war in Iran, which is about to enter its sixth month.During the hearing, senators from both parties demanded clarity on the strategy and spending for the conflict. Hegseth noted the war has cost the U.S. $37.5 billion so far.”You, sir, are the failure, not the men and women who are on that front lines,” said Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan. “You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war. Win the war.” Republican Sen. John N. Kennedy of Louisiana asked, “Do we have the ability to destroy whatever is underneath Pickaxe Mountain?” Hegseth responded, “A lot of our capabilities are classified, but if anybody in the world can reach anything on this, on God’s green earth, it’s the United States military.” This comes after the president began threatening to bomb Pickaxe Mountain, which is a deep underground nuclear facility Iran is building near a similar site known as Natanz that the U.S. bombed last summer.Trump said those bombings “obliterated” Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, but nuclear material that could go into a bomb remains in Iran. Trump said Tuesday that material may have been moved to Pickaxe Mountain.The president has shied away from the idea of sending troops in to retrieve the uranium, saying the facilities are under close surveillance and within reach of American bombers. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, questioned Hegseth Tuesday on why the Pentagon needs more money when nearly half of the $150 billion allocated in last year’s budget remains unspent. Hegseth explained that the remaining funds would be used by September. The top-ranking Democrat on the panel, Sen. Patty Murray, also raised concerns about the administration’s trustworthiness, citing the president’s repeated claims that a deal is close. She warned of “another forever war.” When Republican Sen. Mike Rounds asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine if the requested funding would be sufficient to achieve their objectives, Caine replied that he can’t answer that question because “the enemy has a vote.”Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:]
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced tough questions from lawmakers during a Senate hearing Tuesday as he defended the White House’s $67 billion funding request for the war in Iran, which is about to enter its sixth month.
During the hearing, senators from both parties demanded clarity on the strategy and spending for the conflict.
Hegseth noted the war has cost the U.S. $37.5 billion so far.
“You, sir, are the failure, not the men and women who are on that front lines,” said Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan. “You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war. Win the war.”
Republican Sen. John N. Kennedy of Louisiana asked, “Do we have the ability to destroy whatever is underneath Pickaxe Mountain?”
Hegseth responded, “A lot of our capabilities are classified, but if anybody in the world can reach anything on this, on God’s green earth, it’s the United States military.”
This comes after the president began threatening to bomb Pickaxe Mountain, which is a deep underground nuclear facility Iran is building near a similar site known as Natanz that the U.S. bombed last summer.
Trump said those bombings “obliterated” Iran’s ability to enrich uranium, but nuclear material that could go into a bomb remains in Iran. Trump said Tuesday that material may have been moved to Pickaxe Mountain.
The president has shied away from the idea of sending troops in to retrieve the uranium, saying the facilities are under close surveillance and within reach of American bombers.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, questioned Hegseth Tuesday on why the Pentagon needs more money when nearly half of the $150 billion allocated in last year’s budget remains unspent. Hegseth explained that the remaining funds would be used by September.
The top-ranking Democrat on the panel, Sen. Patty Murray, also raised concerns about the administration’s trustworthiness, citing the president’s repeated claims that a deal is close. She warned of “another forever war.”
When Republican Sen. Mike Rounds asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine if the requested funding would be sufficient to achieve their objectives, Caine replied that he can’t answer that question because “the enemy has a vote.”
Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:
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