Hegseth’s return to Congress turns heated as Democrats go on offense

Congressional Democrats on Tuesday clashed repeatedly with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, demanding details on the Trump administration’s sparsely outlined defense budget request and admonishing him for a string of controversies – including his deployment of thousands of military personnel to Los Angeles over the objections of California’s governor.

Hegseth’s appearance before the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense was the first of four hearings scheduled over the next week and, from the outset, offered a forecast what is likely to be a series of explosive exchanges as lawmakers air frustration with the former Fox News host’s unabashed partisanship since taking the helm of what has traditionally been a staunchly apolitical institution.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Connecticut), the Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat, and Rep. Betty McCollum (Minnesota), the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, grew visibly irritated by Hegseth’s refusal to answer their questions seeking the specifics of President Donald Trump’s $1 trillion defense budget request; how the administration intends to pay for its troop deployment to Los Angeles, where people are protesting Trump’s immigration policies; and its vague plans to reform the nation’s defense industrial base.

“Where are you pulling the money from?” McCollum asked of Hegseth’s surge of nearly 5,000 National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles. (It was disclosed later that the Pentagon has projected the deployment will cost $134 million over 60 days.)

“Do you have a plan … And what is that plan?” DeLauro asked of the funds Congress previously allocated to ramp up the United States’ lagging submarine production.

Hegseth responded to both queries with defiant criticisms of Democratic policy decisions, prompting interruptions from his interrogators.

“I want your plan!” DeLauro shouted, cutting him off. “What is your plan for the future? Can we get that in writing and on paper so that we know where you’re going? Because we don’t have anything today. We have zip, nada … You could talk percentages, you could talk about whatever you want. But unless this committee sees dollars and cents, and where are you going and what your plan is, then we may reconsider what you need to do to go forward. Give us the details.”

“We have the details,” Hegseth said, though he offered none at the hearing.

Moments later, an official Pentagon social media account posted a video of the exchange to mock the congresswoman. “WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING!” it said.

Republicans, meanwhile, used Tuesday’s hearing to praise Hegseth and Trump’s leadership, though some in the GOP also have expressed frustration with the budget delay.

The president is required by law to submit to Congress a complete budget for the coming year by early February. Budgets often arrive later in the first year of a presidential term – a fact acknowledged by the Appropriations Committee’s chairman Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma).

While Hegseth is not personally responsible for the delay, Cole added, “I must say I do agree with my friend Ms. McCollum. We do need more information than we’ve gotten” to write and pass the president’s hefty defense budget request.

The Appropriations Committee on Monday unveiled a 146-page draft defense budget. More detail on what the administration wants to prioritize is “critical for us to be able to make the decisions we’re going to have to make,” Cole said.

Beyond the budget, Democrats assailed Hegseth’s conduct in his first months on the job, behavior that has alarmed lawmakers and national security experts.

DeLauro criticized his “careless sharing of military secrets” – referring to his controversial use of the unclassified, nongovernment messaging application Signal – and blamed the scandal for Trump’s dismissal of Michael Waltz as national security adviser. Waltz is now Trump’s pick for U.N. ambassador.

“Your tenure as secretary has been marked by endless chaos,” she said.

Hegseth focused his opening statement on oft-stated talking points about the Trump administration’s plan to provide “peace through strength,” and he credited the administration for an uptick in military recruitment that began before Trump took office. The top brass has declined to affirm such an assertion.

He also defended his efforts to quash diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the Defense Department and claimed that the military is responding “positively and incredibly” to these changes.

Last week on Capitol Hill, Gen. Randy George, the Army chief of staff, told lawmakers that, in fact, the groundwork for improving the service’s recruiting performance was laid before last year’s election. When pressed by a Republican senator, the general allowed that there had been “a slight rise” since November before emphasizing that “we’ve been on a pretty good, steady path” for some time.