{"id":15,"date":"2026-05-12T19:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T19:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2026-05-12T19:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T19:08:20","slug":"hegseth-caine-encounter-intense-bipartisan-frustration-with-iran-war-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=15","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth, Caine encounter intense bipartisan frustration with Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a ceasefire with Tehran falters, Republicans joined Democrats in pressing for details on the conflict\u2019s costs and the administration\u2019s plan to end it.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Hegseth, Caine encounter intense bipartisan frustration with Iran war<\/a><\/p>\n

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Defense Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, left, and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrive Tuesday for testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. (Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced intense scrutiny from members of Congress on Tuesday over the Trump administration\u2019s handling of the Iran war, as lawmakers from both parties pressed him to clarify <\/b>the Pentagon\u2019s plan to cover the conflict\u2019s rising costs and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

His testimony <\/b>alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, marks the senior Pentagon officials\u2019 last scheduled appearance before Congress to defend the administration\u2019s record $1.45 trillion defense <\/b>budget proposal. They spoke first with the House panel on defense spending<\/a> before meeting with Senate appropriators.<\/p>\n

Both sessions proved more courteous overall than Hegseth\u2019s appearances late last month before the House and Senate Armed Services committees, where he lashed out<\/a> at lawmakers skeptical of the Iran war, calling them America\u2019s \u201cbiggest adversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Hegseth and Caine encountered rare public criticism from some Republicans, who alongside many Democrats, expressed frustration with the administration\u2019s delay in assessing the costs of the conflict <\/b>and lack of strategy for ending the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo wonder this damn thing is going nowhere,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said, objecting to Pakistan\u2019s involvement in a faltering <\/b>process to negotiate a permanent peace deal between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, aired similar concerns about the administration\u2019s plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has closed the strait to most commercial shipping since the start of the war in late February.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me that there\u2019s been a different plan, almost daily, with dealing with this problem,\u201d she said, echoing a criticism often voiced by Democrats about the war\u2019s financial impact on the American public.<\/p>\n

The strait\u2019s closure has dramatically disrupted the movement of Middle Eastern oil through the Persian Gulf, causing global energy prices to soar. President Donald Trump, who launched a naval blockade of Iranian ports in response to the waterway\u2019s closure, indicated Monday that would seek to pause the federal gas tax<\/a> in order to lower the burden of higher gas prices.<\/p>\n

Caine, during later questioning before the Senate panel, declined to say whether the administration had achieved \u201cvictory\u201d as it related to the strait.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly political leaders decide victory or defeat,\u201d the general said.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the House, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky) said that the war had \u201cconfirmed what defense planners had long warned about: Iran doesn\u2019t need a peer military to cause serious problems.<\/i>\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cEven with overwhelming firepower, the side that runs out of munitions or air defenses first loses,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cAre we secure in that point?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth repeatedly objected to lawmakers\u2019 assertions that U.S. weapons stockpiles were \u201cdepleted,\u201d despite the use of thousands of munitions to attack more than 13,000 targets during the Iran campaign. He said that the Pentagon\u2019s inventories were \u201cabsolutely\u201d secure and that the military had \u201cwon every component of what we\u2019ve fought in this conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-California), head of the House committee\u2019s panel on defense spending, urged Hegseth to send Congress a final request for supplemental funding to cover the costs incurred by the war in Iran \u2014 estimated now to be in excess of $29 billion. His question came amid many critiques Tuesday about the Pentagon\u2019s responsiveness to Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be helpful to get the supplemental sooner rather than later,\u201d Calvert said after Hegseth didn\u2019t provide a timeline for the proposal.<\/p>

Read more Trump shares post calling for Obama\u2019s arrest<\/a><\/p>\n

Rep. Betty McCollum (Minnesota), the House panel\u2019s top Democrat, said that lawmakers needed a comprehensive accounting of estimated losses, including to aircraft and other military equipment by June 11, given the panel\u2019s schedule to markup its annual defense bill.<\/p>\n

The $29 billion total cost of the operation to date does not account for the damage Iran has caused to American bases, said the Pentagon\u2019s acting comptroller, Jules W. Hurst III.<\/p>\n

An analysis published last week by The Washington Post showed that Iranian forces had damaged or destroyed at least 228 U.S. structures or pieces of equipment since the war began Feb. 28, including aircraft and hangars, barracks, fuel depots, radar and air defense equipment.<\/p>\n

Hegseth\u2019s last hearing, April 30, occurred a day before the conflict reached the deadline by which the Trump administration was required under the law to seek Congress\u2019s approval to continue the war. He argued then that the 60-day threshold had <\/b>paused during a <\/b>ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n

The administration later asserted that the hostilities had \u201cterminated,\u201d in a letter sent to Capitol Hill.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t appear that hostilities have ended,\u201d said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday, referring to the sustained military buildup in the region and the ongoing blockade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur view is that he has all the authorities he needs,\u201d Hegseth said after Murkowski asked whether Trump would benefit from having Congress authorize the war.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire showed signs of fragility<\/a> last week as U.S. warships intercepted Iranian attacks while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, leading to retaliatory strikes on a handful of Iran\u2019s military facilities. President Donald Trump attempted to downplay the attacks at the time, but on Monday he told reporters the ceasefire was on \u201clife support<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether enough Republicans will accept the administration\u2019s argument or if some may break ranks and support the next round of Democrat-led resolutions intended to halt the fighting without lawmakers\u2019 explicit approval. All of the measures so far have failed.<\/p>\n

While GOP lawmakers again praised the administration\u2019s proposed increase in defense spending in Tuesday\u2019s hearings, many also argued that the use of a party-line process known as reconciliation presented additional risks for $350 billion in Pentagon priorities, including efforts to recharge America\u2019s sluggish defense industry.<\/p>\n

Multiple lawmakers raised the Trump administration\u2019s harsh treatment of long-standing American allies, with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware), chastising officials for \u201cberating them and bullying them for not coming along in a war they were not consulted about.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who chairs the Senate defense spending panel, has also publicly called on the Pentagon to explain why it hasn\u2019t spent $400 million in security assistance to Ukraine that Congress passed earlier this year \u2014 a line of questioning he continued Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Coons, his Democratic counterpart, pressed Hegseth to provide a detailed plan for that funding. The secretary committed to spend the money but didn\u2019t provide a timeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cDragging our feet on this small investment in Ukraine\u2019s defense sends exactly the wrong signal,\u201d Coons said.<\/p>\n

Tara Copp contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a ceasefire with Tehran falters, Republicans joined Democrats in pressing for details on the conflict\u2019s costs and the administration\u2019s plan to end it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nHegseth, Caine encounter intense bipartisan frustration with Iran war - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=15\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hegseth, Caine encounter intense bipartisan frustration with Iran war - 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