Why It Matters

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense held a contentious hearing on May 12 to examine the administration's $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of Defense. The hearing quickly became a referendum on the ongoing U.S. conflict with Iran, with senators from both parties pressing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on war costs, strategy, and the status of the Strait of Hormuz. The administration's budget request supports the conflict and frames it as necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The Big Picture

The request totals $1.1 trillion in base appropriations and $350 billion in reconciliation funding. That reconciliation figure triples what was provided last year. Members of both parties raised concerns that placing key priorities like Golden Dome missile defense, F-35 procurement, and drone dominance in one-time reconciliation funding, rather than the base budget, creates long-term instability. The hearing also served as an oversight session on the Iran conflict, now 74 days old at the time of the hearing, for which no supplemental appropriation request or Authorization for Use of Military Force has been submitted to Congress.

What They're Saying

The room was disrupted early when protesters interrupted Hegseth's opening statement, forcing McConnell to call for order and clear the hearing room before testimony could continue.

Coons fired back at Hegseth over the administration's failure to spend $400 million in congressionally appropriated Ukraine funding signed into law in January. Hegseth acknowledged the money had been released from his comptroller's office but offered no firm timeline for a spending plan. Coons bristled: "It's May, and this has been the law since January." Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) pressed the same question repeatedly. Hegseth said a final spending plan was expected "this week."

Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) challenged Hegseth and Gen. John D. Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, on a reported discrepancy between the President's public claim that 80 percent of Iran's missile capacity had been destroyed and intelligence community reporting suggesting only 30 percent. Both witnesses declined to discuss classified battle damage assessments. "How do we assess whether we should continue funding this if you can't state those answers?" Murphy asked. Caine replied: "I'm not gonna comment on BDA on either way, sir."

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) challenged Hegseth on why the budget requested only one DDG-51 destroyer, down from two in fiscal year 2026 and three in fiscal year 2025, while simultaneously requesting $1.8 billion in reconciliation for foreign-built surface combatants. Hegseth cited shipbuilding capacity constraints.

Political Stakes

Hegseth faces credibility questions on multiple fronts: the unexplained delay in Ukraine funding, the inability to confirm war damage assessments, and growing bipartisan skepticism about the Iran strategy. Murkowski, a Republican, said flatly: "We have not won this war." The $350 billion reconciliation request depends on passage of a third reconciliation package this Congress, which Murkowski described as "an uphill climb." If reconciliation fails, the budget would fall below the administration's own fiscal year 2026 fighter procurement baseline, with 53 of 85 requested F-35s sitting in the reconciliation portion of the request.

Murkowski also raised the War Powers Resolution, noting the 60-day clock expired April 28 and the administration has not sought an Authorization for Use of Military Force. Hegseth said the president "has all the authorities he needs under article two."

The Other Side

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) offered a sharply different read of the Iran operation, arguing that Iran's military has been devastated and that continued naval blockade pressure will eventually force Tehran's hand. "America first does not have to mean America alone," Kennedy said, urging the administration to maintain allied relationships while holding the line. Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) similarly argued that the blockade creates decisive economic leverage over Iran.

What's Next

Senators have one week to submit additional questions for the hearing record, with witnesses given 30 days to respond. The subcommittee is expected to continue pressing for the Ukraine spending plan, and the Armed Services Committee has signaled it will follow up independently. The administration's supplemental appropriations request for Iran war costs has not yet been submitted.

The Bottom Line

The hearing exposed a widening gap between the administration's claims of military success in Iran and Congress's ability to independently verify those claims, with the $1.5 trillion budget request caught in the crossfire.

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