TENSIONS FLARED DURING HOURS-LONG HEARING
Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana was among several senators demanding answers over the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, asking if Iran will impose tolls on what historically has been an open waterway vital to the flow of oil.
Caine said: “That’s a hypothetical question, and I don’t know the answer to that.”
But Kennedy retorted: “Guys, we need straight answers.”
Tensions exploded toward the end of the more than three-hour hearing.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, told Hegseth flatly that his war claims don’t add up.
Has the US obliterated Iran’s nuclear capabilities or not? she demanded to know.
“We’re staying laser-focused on the objective,” Hegseth responded, “and you’re trying to make campaign commercials.”
Senator Jon Ossoff, D-Ga probed Hegseth’s past assessments of the war, including the secretary’s claims of Iran’s surrender.
When Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said the administration’s war strategy has been a complete “failure,” Hegseth erupted.
“Shame on you and others who call this a quagmire and a failure,” Hegseth said.
Peters told the secretary: “You, sir, are the failure.”
The senator said it’s not the US troops who are failing, but their leaders. “You don’t have a strategy,” Peters said. “You don’t have a long-term plan to actually win this war.”
Hegseth said Democrats have “Trump Derangement syndrome” and won’t give him the money he needs.
Peters said it’s not about money, “but a question of leadership”.
This week, the Senate will consider another war powers resolution, having voted nearly a dozen times to try to halt the conflict.
REPUBLICANS WORK TO PASS BUDGET OVER DEMOCRATIC OBJECTIONS
The GOP budget proposal is expected to flow through the reconciliation process, which enables the majority to approve the plan on its own, over the objections of Democrats in the minority.
It’s the same lengthy process Republicans used to approve Trump’s big tax cuts bill last summer, as well as Homeland Security money earlier this year.
The proposal is headed toward a House vote this week, which would start the process by instructing various committees to begin drafting the legislation. Johnson can afford only a few defectors from his slim majority, and some conservatives want the funding offset with spending reductions elsewhere.
GOP senators have so far panned the House budget plan, but are waiting to see if Johnson can kickstart the process.
