"Unlimited Money for Bombs": Democrats Slam Hegseth for Seeking $67B for Iran War

The U.S. is continuing to strike Iran for an 11th straight day. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday revealed the cost of the war on Iran has soared to over $37 billion during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. However, independent estimates and media reports based on internal leaks suggest the true figure is much higher. Hegseth is now seeking $80 billion more from Congress, including $67 billion for the war on Iran. “You’re requesting billions of dollars in supplemental funding for a war that you said would last for weeks and that the president has no plan or ability to end,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, during the hearing. “You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families.” Transcript AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman. The U.S. is continuing to bomb Iran for an 11th straight day. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed the cost of war in Iran has soared to over $37 billion, an increase of nearly $8 billion since the last public estimate. Hegseth is now seeking $80 billion more from Congress, including $67 billion for the war in Iran. Antiwar activists repeatedly disrupted Hegseth during his appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: The supplemental funding request is not a substitute for the president’s full $1.5 trillion base budget request. $1.5 trillion — PROTESTER: Stop funding the war on Iran! Stop bombing our children in Iran and Palestine! This is illegal! SEN. SUSAN COLLINS: Mr. Secretary, please suspend until order is restored in the hearing room. AMY GOODMAN: That was Maine Senator Susan Collins, who presided over the hearing. During the hearing, senators grilled Defense Secretary Hegseth over the state of the war. This is Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: Secretary Hegseth, you’re requesting billions of dollars in supplemental funding for a war that you said would last for weeks and that the president has no plan or ability to end. At the same time, this still-unauthorized and extremely unpopular war has caused gas, diesel, fertilizer and other essentials that New Yorkers and our farmers need. … You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families. And I don’t know how this administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: Not unlimited bombs, Senator. I’m asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries into the future. And that’s why this is a — SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: OK, but, see, Mr. Secretary Hegseth — DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: — generational investment. And it was the previous administration that didn’t fund this department. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: — the reason why people are so upset — DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: They didn’t fund it. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: The reason why they are so upset with you and this administration is because the words you have used in the past don’t add up. About Iran specifically, you said that we had “obliterated,” quote-unquote, Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons. The president made the same claim. Yet eight months later, in February of 2026, the president launched an act of war, claiming Iran was within two weeks of having a weapon. So, when you say two very different things, the American people don’t know who to believe or what to believe. They just know they can’t afford their healthcare, they can’t afford their food, they can’t afford housing, and our farmers are continuing to suffer. So, which is true? Was it obliterated, or wasn’t it? What’s the status? DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: The nuclear sites under Midnight Hammer were obliterated, but Iranians foolishly continued to attempt to pursue nuclear capabilities, which is why we destroyed their defense-industrial base — SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: OK. Then, let’s take — DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: — and so many of the other capabilities, to ensure they can’t get to a nuclear weapon. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: OK. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: See, we’re staying laser focused on the objective, and you’re trying to make campaign commercials. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: No, we’re not. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: And that’s fine. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: So, listen to this. You also say that you made the missile program, quote, “destroyed” and made combat ineffective, quote, “Iran’s entire ballistic missile production capacity”; every company that builds every component of those missiles has been functionally defeated and destroyed; and that the missile program, existing stockpiles were depleted and decimated, almost completely ineffective. So, why are there missiles left to hit Jordan and result in the loss of life of our brave men and women? DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: As we stated from the beginning, the Iranian defense-industrial base is effectively gone. But they do have underground facilities, because they’re the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, and they’ve spent 47 years trying to hide their missiles under mountains – SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: — just like their — just like their nuclear capabilities, because they would like to get a nuclear weapon — SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: We just don’t know what version — DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: — to wield it against us. SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: — of the war to believe, because it’s either over or it’s not over, it’s within two weeks or it’s not two weeks, we have no missiles or we have missiles. And that consternation is why so many New Yorkers are perplexed, stressed out and find this war to be incredibly unpopular. AMY GOODMAN: During the Senate hearing, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland mentioned the U.S. school strike on an Iranian elementary school in Minab on the first day of the war. SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: We recently lost three American heroes. That brings the death toll for American soldiers to 18. One is still missing. Hundreds have been injured. That’s on top of the civilian death toll throughout the region that now stands at several thousand, including the over 150 people killed in the bombing of an elementary school in Minab, in Iran. Media Options