WATCH: Sen. Reed questions Hegseth in funding hearing as Iran war reignites

[00:00:00]Rawlins, I just want to reiterate a point that Senator Padilla made.

[00:00:05]Uh, we have $10 billion in this request for Midwestern farmers who were suffering because of the uh interruption of fuel and fertilizers uh because of President Trump's war, unauthorized war, uh, yet, uh, many states, blue states particularly, have submitted requests Rhode Island has 1 February, we had the worst snowstorm in our recent history, uh, and we've been denied by the president. In fact, if you look at the numbers, 20% of blue states seemed to get approved in about 80% of red states. I'm making a point, not asking a question.

[00:00:46]This is unfair. Thank you. Uh, Secretary Heck said, um, on February twenty-eighth when you initiated this war without authorization from Congress, the Straitsorn moves was open and providing vital fuel supplies for the whole world. Now they're closed effectively, impacting globally the price of oil and the economy of the whole world. But the Department of Defense has been planning for potential operations against Iran for many, many years, and one of their obvious assumptions was that the 3 of whomuz could be close. Um were you unaware of that? Uh, Senator, you, you are correct. Uh, nobody plans more and looks at more contingencies than our department and so of course, undertaking a historic effort like this of this scope and scale, of course the Strait of Hormuz was front and center in every single aspect of that. Hence why one of our key objectives to begin with was to sink the entirety of of Iran's navy, which its conventional navy was sunk. Now, you can't get rid of every single fast boat and every single machine gun and a fast boat or every single, uh, coastal cruise missile. So we acknowledge that if the state decided to become a terror state shooting at commercial shipping, that would be an ongoing and contested part of the battle, to include their willingness to mine international waters. So one side weaponized the strait, and we've been fighting that aware that the Strait of Hormuz could be closed, and obviously sinking their ships has not affected their ability to effectively close the straits. Did it, did you we had US boats that surrendered to Iranian ships under the Biden administration. So their navy was effective in We're talking about a war you started, not a situation in which oil was flowing freely. There was no conflict. We weren't losing personnel as a result of Iranian actions. So, uh, your fallb back to the Biden administration is just a very, very, uh, obvious, uh, excuse for what I think is probably, as you described, so often gross negligence. You did not fully inform the president that you would be in a situation where the Straiter moves could be effectively closed, oil prices could surge and effectively the Iranians could maintain their ability to strike back, as they are right now. They just killed some of our sur. events last weekend. Um, this, this battlefield and all the dynamics of it, of which the chairman and I are responsible for ensuring the president understands every branch and sequel of what could happen, and we did. So the fact that those contingencies all were part of the possibility, and we understood that is all the more reason why President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should get for undertaking this effort, having the courage to ensure that crazy Islamists can't have a nuclear weapon to hold us at issue, and he's been willing to stay committed to that regardless of the challenge. So he should be praised. He should be praised for showering war without authority, creating a situation in which the world economy is suffering tremendously.

[00:03:52]We have to have extra money for our farmers, and we have no outcome, uh, at least no rea realistic outcome in sight yet. Let me switch to General Kane. General Kane, uh, these airstrikes have not yet deterred and defeated the Iranians. Do you think airstrikes alone will do that? Sure, I think academically as you look across the totality of history airpower's got limits, and we always have to be mindful of those. I think where America's area of exclusivity is, is when we bring the totality of the diplomatic informational, economic, and pair that with the military, and there's a lot of that work going on. Well, the, the next step would be escalation by ground combat.

[00:04:39]Do you anticipate that escalation. Sure, I, I think it'd be unhelpful for me to opine on hypotheticals. What I can tell you is we always develop an unbelievable amount of options in the associated risks and then my main job is to always ensure that leaders understand those options and the risks. Now, if you employ ground troops to seize objectives which principle I would assume be the first stage.

[00:05:04]Are you prepared for an extended guerrilla war, which would likely happen in that era, sir, with all due respect, I think it'd be unhelpful for me to opine on hypothet ical situations on whatever decisions the president may or may not take in the future. Have you advised the president that a ground combat would be very expensive and the lives of our soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and also could probably lead to an extended uh uh um unconventional war in that area. I don't see the Iranians sort of throwing their hands up saying, and, you know, welcome to Iran.

[00:05:42]Uh, Senator, I always advise the president on a range of military options and all of the risks that are contained within that, but I have to keep my military advice to the president in private, sir.

[00:05:56]But Well, thank you. Thank you, Senator