Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that the war with Iran has cost the United States $37.5 billion, and asked lawmakers for $87 billion in additional Pentagon funding, $67 billion of it for Middle East operations.
The figure, provided under questioning from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is the first official cost estimate since May 12, when a senior Pentagon official put the total at $29 billion. Hegseth's appearance was his first on Capitol Hill since hostilities with Iran restarted last week, and it came hours before U.S. Central Command carried out an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian targets.
Pickaxe Mountain warning
President Trump, speaking earlier at the White House, said the next U.S. target would be Pickaxe Mountain, an underground site near Natanz where U.S. officials suspect Iran is building an undeclared enrichment facility. "We'll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily," Trump told reporters. Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya military command said such a strike would be treated "as an expansion of war in the region."
Bipartisan resistance
The panel's senior Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said the request "does not make a lot of sense." Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., accused the administration of seeking "unlimited money for bombs" for a war Trump has said was already won. Republican fiscal hawks want offsetting cuts elsewhere. The House leaves town Thursday, and the two chambers will not be jointly back in session until September, delaying any approved funds by at least two months.
Shouting match
The hearing culminated in an exchange between Hegseth and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who called the campaign "an utter and complete failure" and cited 17 U.S. service members killed. Hegseth said the characterization "smears the sacrifice of the troops" and told Peters "shame on you." Peters replied, "You, sir, are the failure." Hegseth accused the senator of "Trump derangement syndrome" and said Democrats were showing "political cowardice."
Hegseth's case
Hegseth framed the supplemental as urgent, warning of "critical shortfalls" that would prevent the Pentagon from paying service members or replenishing munitions and describing the request as a "generational investment" against rival militaries. Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed him on the consequences of a rejection; he said training would have to be cut and blamed what he called an underfunded military left by the Biden administration.
Trump is scheduled to travel to Dover, Del., on Wednesday for the arrival of remains from four U.S. service members recently killed in the Middle East. The Pentagon on Tuesday identified Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, 30, killed in Iraq, and said Sgt. Angel Rampersad, 28, was believed dead in Jordan. Two Democratic sources told CBS the $37.5 billion figure understates the war's cost because it excludes reconstruction of damaged U.S. bases.