Hegseth, Caine Pitch $80B Iran Supplemental to Senate
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- Hegseth testified alongside Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, seeking nearly $80 billion in emergency funding to replenish Iran war stockpiles and cover other Trump administration priorities.
- Hegseth warned that military training would be the first casualty of dwindling Pentagon funding, echoing Adm. Daryl Caudle's May warning that the Navy would have to cut training, routine operations, and personnel without supplemental funding.
- Democrats repeatedly pressed Hegseth on roughly $75 billion in unspent Pentagon funds from last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, asking why taxpayers should fund a war they don't support instead of redirecting that money.
- Hegseth blamed the Biden administration for underinvesting in the military and prioritizing weapons for Ukraine, while simultaneously admitting the military faces immediate funding shortfalls as the Iran war's price tag rises.
- Gen. Caine warned that failure to pass the $21 billion in munitions funding within the supplemental would create "a lack of shared risk between the federal government and the private sector," with military personnel costs hit hardest if the request fails.
- Hegseth said 95 percent of the $75 billion in previously approved spending would be allocated by the end of September, narrowing the window for Democrats' reallocation argument.
Why it matters: Democrats' $75 billion unspent funds argument gives them a credible fiscal objection to the $80 billion request, and Hegseth's admission of immediate shortfalls while blaming Biden for underinvestment creates a contradiction that could stall the supplemental even as he warns training cuts begin without it.
