Hegseth Faces Hill Hearings as GOP Questions His Leadership
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- Pete Hegseth is set to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, his first sworn testimony since the Iran conflict began on Feb. 28.
- Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine will use the hearings to present a $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 Defense Department budget request.
- Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) publicly questioned Hegseth's leadership over his firings of Army Chief of Staff Randy George and Navy Secretary John Phelan, with Tillis saying, 'He has separated some of the most extraordinary generals that we've had in play.'
- A 60-day deadline to end the Iran war without congressional approval arrives this week, and President Trump is expected to request between $80 billion and $100 billion in supplemental funding for Iran operations.
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) published a scathing Washington Post op-ed asking why the Pentagon is sitting on roughly $400 million authorized by Congress for Ukraine, directing his criticism at Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby.
- NBC News reported that U.S. military bases and equipment in the Middle East suffered far worse damage from Iranian strikes than publicly acknowledged, with repairs expected to cost billions of dollars.
- House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said officials were 'tight-lipped' on strategy and troop movement during a recent classified briefing, adding that lawmakers 'deserve more answers than we're given.'
Why it matters: Hegseth is walking into a rare situation where Republican defense hawks — not Democrats — are the ones airing public frustration, and he does so the same week a 60-day war authorization deadline expires and an $80-100 billion supplemental for Iran comes due. If those GOP concerns aren't satisfied, the administration's $1.5 trillion fiscal 2027 budget request faces a hostile reception from the very committees that must advance it.
