Hegseth faces Senate over $95B Iran war budget as U.S. death toll hits 17

GOP budget plan faces conservative defections despite slim House majority

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are scheduled to appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday as the military disclosed over the weekend that three U.S. service members died and more than 100 were injured since early July. The overall U.S. death toll in the Iran war now stands at 17, and nearly 450 service members have been injured since the conflict began, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The budget package Republicans are pushing through the reconciliation process allocates the bulk of its $95 billion to the Iran war. It also includes $10 billion in aid for farmers affected by Trump’s tariffs and $10 billion for voting law changes, none of it offset by spending cuts. The package represents one last priority before lawmakers recess to campaign for the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

Democrats are set to use the hearing to press Hegseth on the war’s costs and timeline. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said in prepared remarks that Trump “has told us over 40 times now that a deal is near, and the war will be over soon” but “now, he’s asking for $70 billion more — and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out fine.” Murray warned the conflict “could be another forever war.”

Schumer criticized Hegseth for promoting testosterone screenings for troops rather than publicly disclosing casualty numbers. “One of the biggest questions Pete Hegseth has to answer today is why he was out marketing testosterone supplements for our troops last week while withholding casualty numbers in the Iran War from the American people,” Schumer said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said at his weekly press conference that “the commander in chief and the whole Department of War are working very hard to bring this to a resolution” but acknowledged “a lot of questions about how that will be done.”

The House is expected to vote this week on the budget plan, which would start the process of instructing various committees to begin drafting the legislation. Johnson can afford only a few defectors from his slim majority. One Republican, Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, has already objected, warning the new funding will pile onto deficits because it is not offset with spending reductions. Other conservative Republicans share those concerns. GOP senators have so far panned the House budget plan but are waiting to see if Johnson can kickstart the process.

Senators have pressed Hegseth to release the Pentagon’s report on the Feb. 28 strike on an Iranian primary school and threatened to withhold his travel budget unless he complies. This week, the Senate will consider another war powers resolution, having voted nearly a dozen times to try to halt the conflict without success. The House has passed a war powers resolution limiting Trump’s ability to wage war, with a few Republicans joining Democrats, but no measure has cleared both chambers.

Most Americans continue to disapprove of how Trump is handling Iran, according to an AP-NORC poll. Gas prices have spiked as Iran works to control oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. munitions are running low amid the onslaught of American missile strikes, and Trump has shifted away from his own campaign promise not to draw the U.S. into prolonged military conflicts.