Hegseth Says War With Iran Has Already Cost $37.5 Billion

Watch Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee about Iran war funding below, and scroll down for the latest news:Hegseth Says War With Iran Has Already Cost $37.5 BillionDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate committee Tuesday that the ongoing war with Iran has already cost a staggering $37.5 billion.“Do you have a new estimate about what this war has cost us so far, in the fifth month of the first year of this war in Iran?” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked Hegseth.“Senator, the estimate we have as of today, is 37.5 billion,” Hegseth responded.Hegseth is currently asking for a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget. Latest Live UpdatesSenate Committee Votes To Advance Jay Clayton As Nominee For National Intelligence DirectorThe Senate Intelligence Committee voted 9-8 to advance Jay Clayton’s nomination to become the director of national intelligence.“Jay Clayton is a highly qualified nominee with a deep experience combatting a wide range of national security threats,” Sen. Tom Cotton said in a statement about the vote. “Once confirmed, I look forward to working with Mr. Clayton to keep Americans safe and continue reforming the Office of Director of National Intelligence.” There will be a Senate floor vote on his nomination as soon as next week. In a hearing last week, Clayton declined to explicitly say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, leading Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee to reject him in Tuesday’s vote. Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick for the role, is currently serving as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.Sen. Shaheen To Hegseth: 'Why Are You Asking The American People To Absorb The Cost Of A War They Don't Support?'Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during his request for a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget as war with Iran continues.“Why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don’t support?” Shaheen said in part during her questioning of Hegseth.Shaheen had asked Hegseth about an extra $75 billion that the defense department currently has.“You’ve told this committee that you’ve barely spent half of the $150 billion reconciliation funding and if you still have 75 billion available,” Shaheen pointed out. “Why are you asking the American people to absorb the cost of a war they don’t support, instead of asking for transfer authority for reconciliation funding, especially if you can’t even get $400 million in Ukraine funding out the door?”Hegseth, who previously could not answer “specific numbers” as to where that $75 billion has been allocated, said the money was needed in part for Trump’s planned “golden dome.”“As I mentioned, that funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill is otherwise allocated to the rebuilding of our military with the priorities of the president, like the golden dome for America and hyper sonics and other munitions investments, as we try to adjust the Biden budget into an America first budget.”Shaheen wasn’t having it.“My point is, if you can’t spend it on a timeline that makes sense, why do you need to come back and ask for more money?” Shaheen asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to spend money you already have?”“And at what point do you stop asking Americans to foot the bill for a war they don’t support, on top of an inflated budget request, and billions in reconciliation funds that you still haven’t spent?” Shaheen added.Hegseth, unable to answer the question, launched into fears about “radical Islamists.” Shaheen shut him down.“I don’t want to hear your speech because I have limited time,” she said. “So, if you can’t answer my question, then I will move on to my next question.”Hegseth Says Trump Still Doesn’t Need Congress For Iran AuthorizationSen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) expressed concern over President Donald Trump’s compliance with the War Powers Act, which stipulates that Congress must approve military action that lasts longer than 60 days.Congress has granted no such approval in Trump’s war of choice on Iran.Trump’s initial war concluded within the 60-day timeframe with a memorandum of understanding that has since “collapsed,” as Murkowski noted. The administration gave formal notice to Congress that it was resuming hostilities with Iran on July 10, restarting the 60-day clock.“I’m concerned about this sequence,” Murkowski said. “Because you have a situation where the claim essentially allows the president to extinguish the war powers clock just at the moment that it becomes legally inconvenient through declaration of temporary ceasefire. Then it’s reset, avoiding the congressional authorization that the Constitution requires in the War Powers Act.”She noted that while “reasonable people can disagree” about presidential authority to wage war, the War Powers Act is “not ambiguous.”Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, told Murkowski that he and Trump “have all the authorities necessary at this moment” to do as they please in Iran.Trump Says Direct Flights From U.S. To Lebanon Will Resume After 40 YearsPresident Donald Trump on Tuesday said U.S. airline carriers will once again be able to fly directly to Lebanon, 40 years after the federal government banned all direct flights to the country. “After meeting with the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, who has done a remarkable job working to transform his Country, I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Hopefully, other Countries will do the same.”The Federal Aviation Administration first placed restrictions on flights to Lebanon in 1985 after a Trans World Airlines flight was hijacked while en route to Beirut, where an American passenger was fatally shot by a hijaker.Speaking to reporters on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration hopes the return of direct flights to Lebanon will encourage more U.S. and international investment into the country. Pete Hegseth Can't Answer 'Specific Numbers' On Where Defense Department's Extra $75 Billion Has GoneDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he couldn’t answer “specific numbers” on where an extra $75 billion in defense spending has gone.“It’s my understanding that this whole supplemental funding request is $87.6 billion,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday. “We are told the Department of Defense still has $75 billion in un-obligated funding from last year’s reconciliation package. Is that true?”Hegseth testified as part of his request for $1.5 trillion defense budget — the largest request in U.S. history. But he seemed unsure where all that extra money has gone.“There’s plans and designs on that, as part of the rebuild of our military which had to be undertaken, and so–” Hegseth began.“Be specific,” Durbin said.“One thing the Big Beautiful Bill gave us is specific avenues, but I’d have to get you specific numbers of what there is left to be allocated,” Hegseth said.Pressed on the issue by Durbin, Hegseth pivoted to complaining about former President Joe Biden’s “woke priorities” and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.“I don’t know what Lloyd Austin did for four years,” Hegseth said.“I’m sure he has questions about what you’re doing now,” Durbin replied.Protesters Interrupt Pete Hegseth During Committee HearingSeveral protesters were removed from a Senate committee hearing Tuesday after interrupting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.During his opening statement for a supplemental funding request for the Department of War, Hegseth was shouted down by demonstrators who are against the U.S. war in Iran.“Stop bombing our children in Iran and Palestine, this is illegal!” one woman could be heard shouting.Hegseth was interrupted at least two more times as he attempted to get through his statement. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) asked for Capitol police to remove the demonstrators. “I would ask that the Capitol Police, whose professionalism I admire, remove those who are seeking to disrupt the hearing,” Collins said.Hegseth continued his opening remarks, saying that not funding the war in Iran started by President Donald Trump is “the greatest threat our nation faces.”“Not fully funding this department, this department of war — and we know what that means, that that means $1.5 trillion,” Hegseth told the committee.The Trump administration has asked for an unprecedented $1.5 trillion defense budget. “Given the world we live in, and the disaster of what the Biden administration budgets gave us, not funding this department at 1.5 trillion, I believe, is the greatest threat our nation faces,” Hegseth added. Health Secretary RFK Jr. Says Cyclosporiasis Outbreak Is ‘Under Control’Health Secretary Robert F. 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We, and the companies that are involved, have implemented a recall,” Kennedy said. “We did cuts in the FoodNet program, but they were for redundant surveillance.” Susan Collins ‘Deeply Troubled’ By Hegseth Sidelining Women And People Of Color In MilitaryWith Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the stand to face a grilling on the Iran war, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she would be “remiss” if she did not note how his department has been sidelining women and people of color in its top ranks.Collins cited reporting by the New York Times about the disproportionate number of women and people of color who have been denied promotions or removed from their positions in Hegseth’s Defense Department. Their number include Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the U.S. Navy, whom Hegseth fired in early 2025. “I find this deeply troubling,” Collins said as part of her opening statement at Tuesday’s hearing.“These are men and women who volunteered to serve our country and swore and oath to support and defend our Constitution,” she went on. “Over the course of their careers, they have earned the support and the trust of their commanders and subordinates, led our men and women in uniform, and were selected through rigorous command and promotion boards. They have served under presidents and defense secretaries from both parties. Reports that women and people of color are disproportionately fired or sidelined create the impression that their service is not valued. This is likely to discourage well-qualified women and individuals of color from joining our armed forces, thus depriving us of their talent, dedication and patriotism.” U.S. Appeals Court Overturns Release Of Palestinian Activist Arrested At Citizenship InterviewA U.S. appeals court has overturned a lower court’s order last year to free Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, ruling that the judge who ordered his release didn’t have the legal authority.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York concluded on Tuesday that a federal judge in Vermont who ordered the graduate student’s release was prohibited under the Immigration and Nationality Act from considering his habeas petition.“We conclude that the district court should not have reached this question because it did not have subject matter jurisdiction over the habeas petition,” the court said.The decision opens the door for the re-arrest of Mahdawi, who argued that his detention as a permanent U.S. resident was unlawful retaliation for his protected speech.The American Civil Liberties Union had earlier said that his habeas case protected him against re-detention or deportation amid his appeals.With the court’s decision on Tuesday, the nonprofit organization warned that “the government could lock up any non-citizen, including to censor and punish their lawful speech, with no federal court having the power to intervene.“This is an extreme misreading of the law that will put all of our rights in danger,” it said in a statement. Mahdawi is protected from detention while his case continues, it added. French Lawmakers Adopt Pioneering Social Media Ban For Children Under 15French lawmakers on Tuesday adopted a bill banning children under 15 from using social media, making France the first country in the European Union to approve a blanket ban on the platforms as concerns grow worldwide over the harmful effects of digital content on kids.Both chambers of the Parliament voted in favor of the measure, a flagship initiative of French president Emmanuel Macron’s second term. The bill also bans the use of mobile phones in high schools.Read more:See All Updates