GOP senators criticize Hegseth for excluding Democrats from defense briefings

Record $1.5 trillion defense budget still needs Democratic votes

Republican senators criticized the Pentagon for locking Democrats out of closed-door sessions on defense spending, warning that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s approach could jeopardize passage of President Donald Trump’s record $1.5 trillion military budget increase. Hegseth has made at least two trips to Capitol Hill in recent weeks to pitch the budget, repeatedly excluding Democrats from the closed-door sessions, according to lawmakers from both parties.

Much of next year’s defense budget will still require Democratic votes to pass, even if Republicans push part of the package through under the party-line reconciliation process. Senate Democrats have threatened to boycott the funding bills altogether. The Guardian reported that Hegseth’s exclusion of the party’s congressional representatives could backfire on the administration’s own spending priorities this fall.

Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, argued that Hegseth was undermining his own case. “He calls himself the secretary of war, but ironically, he doesn’t want to go to war and win the argument with nearly half the members of the Senate,” Tillis told Politico. “You got to engage.”

Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he had personally raised the issue of engaging Democrats with defense department officials. “The Democrat members need to be brought up to speed,” Rounds told Politico, adding that Pentagon officials feared classified material would leak.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also called for a bipartisan approach to the briefings. “I know that sometimes you want to have smaller groups, but I think it needs to be bipartisan,” she told Politico.

Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said in response: “The Department of War remains fully committed to working with Congress to ensure our warfighters have the resources necessary to execute their mission. Secretary Hegseth and senior department leadership regularly engage with lawmakers to discuss the defense budget, readiness, and national security priorities.”

The dispute follows comments Hegseth made in April before the House Armed Services Committee, when he identified congressional Democrats as among the “biggest impediment” to stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” he said.