Sen Murray bashes Hegseth as she questions Total cost of Iran Conflict, War Chief fails to answer

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary, the war in Iran has not only cost 13 American service member lives, it is also costing American taxpayers dearly. Tens of billions of dollars in counting. And that's money that could be helping people perhaps get healthcare. But instead, we're paying for bombs dropped in a war that American people overwhelmingly oppose. Now, earlier this morning, I know that your team testified Trump's war with Iran cost 29 billion so far. That is $29 billion dollar blown on a war of choice.

[00:00:33]And that's what it would have cost actually to save the ACA tax credits.

[00:00:37]But as my colleagues have already stated, what is concerning as well as it seems quite clear that that is that cost estimate is suspiciously low. Now your acting comproller suggested that damage to US facilities was not factored into that figure. It is clear that there has been extensive damage to American military assets. New reporting from the Washington Post and others indicates that Iran has hit at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at US military sites. Can you tell us what the cost of damage done to US facilities is because of this war?

[00:01:16]Well, I think Jay covered pretty clearly what we can or cannot share, but I I would simply respond that um and I think it's important point considering what the president is undertaking is what is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon and the fact that this president's been willing to make a historic and courageous choice to confront that. It comes with cost and we recognize that judgment is we have a judgment as well and I'm asking if you can tell us and at what point you can tell us what the cost of damage done to US facilities is because of this war.

[00:01:44]Yeah, ma'am. Thanks for the question.

[00:01:46]So, for uh future posture in the Middle East, we don't know what that's going to look like. We don't know how we're going to design these bases.

[00:01:51]>> The damage to date, you do not have any cost estimate on it at all >> for the military construction. I don't have a cost estimate to provide you at this time.

[00:01:58]>> Well, when will we get that?

[00:02:00]>> Again, it depends on what the future posture is, how we decide to construct those bases >> to date. You know what has happened to date? We can't get that number. And that is a real concern to us. Our job is to appropriate dollars and we're just told it's coming, it's coming, and we don't get it. So, it's very hard to do our budgets. And right now, Mr. Secretary, people are paying four, five, even six, $7 for gas, and American taxpayers are now on the hook as well for paying for this disastrous war. You're spending families hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose, and you're forcing people to pay more at the pump. And yet, you're not even providing a real breakdown for the cost of this war. So far, we have no real details.

[00:02:42]you have indicated that and yet now you want Congress to send you $1.5 trillion dollar more. To me, that is unacceptable and I hope our Republican colleagues will join us in not only rejecting that absurd request, but in insisting that the American people get the actual answers on how much money their money we're we are spending on this. Now, let me turn and say, Secretary Hexus, the the president has called Medicaid, Medicare, and child care little scams and said, quote, "We're fighting wars. We cannot take uh care of daycare." I I'm just trying to understand that. Is it your position since you're asking taxpayers for another half a trillion dollars for the war that American families should be forced to give up child care and health coverage so that you can have $1.5 trillion for this budget?

[00:03:36]Senator, that's that's not my department. I certainly support this and I also support the president's efforts to find and remove fraud wherever possible in a general sense. And we do that in our department as well.

[00:03:47]>> I'm not talking about fraud. I actually asked whether an American family should lose their health care or their child care to pay for this budget. That is literally what the president suggested.

[00:04:00]The president has proposed a historic $ 1.5 trillion budget that will defend the nation and confront threats like Iran, which previous presidents allowed to happen. As Senator Graham pointed out, previous administrations said they wanted to take care of this problem and they did not.

[00:04:16]>> This committee, the question in front of the American people is what are they being asked to give up for this $1.5 trillion? That's where I was talking about. And uh lastly, Mr. Secretary, your budget request cuts through Trump's ramblings and really to me makes the truth clear that you and the president don't value families as much as you value defense contractors. You want to increase the war budget every family at do. Okay? Don't tell me we don't care about families. We sure do. And we take care of them in every way we possibly can.

[00:04:47]>> I'm asking you about taxpayer dollars that everybody has. When we've been to war before, we have asked people to do victory gardens. We've asked them to pay more. You are not doing that. You are taking one asking for $1 and a half trillion dollars which means something else has to be given up. That is what this committee is looking at. You want to increase the war budget for the next year by half a trillion dollar. That is taxpayer money that could be used to feed families or build new affordable homes or wipe out some diseases completely or increase child investments 20 times over. But you are asking us to blow it all on war. And that's not even counting the money that you have spent bombing Iran or that you may still request in a separate supplemental. And to me, this budget wasn't even strategically crafted. $1.5 trillion. It is like the president decided that was the number and you all filled in the blanks. So what I'm here today to say is you asked for a massive laundry list of unnecessary spending. It's a huge payday for defense contractors and you still don't even ask to give DoD civilian workers a pay raise. And to me, this is absurd. I know you do not care what I have to say. So, let me quote you someone you might actually listen to.

[00:05:59]President Eisenhower. He said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. That is what this budget proposal is asking. It's going to leave Americans cold and hungry to fund Trump's war and make defense contractors a fortune. So that is why I hope this committee throws that in the trash and comes together with a budget that works for all American families. Thank Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.