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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blasted members of the Democratic Alliance at a hearing on Tuesday, strongly arguing that the United States has shown a failure of leadership in its war with Iran, among other areas.
The conflict shows the difficulty Democrats have had in attacking Hegseth without pitting themselves against the U.S. military — while at the same time expressing doubts about the administration’s decisions.
Sen. Garry Peters, D-Mich., raised those doubts with Hegseth, pressing him on whether the administration has a plan to end the protracted war with Iran.
PETE HEGSETH GOES TO CAPITOL HILL TO DEFEND TRUMP’S WAR ON IRAN AS 60-DAY CONGRESSIONAL DEADLINE APPROACHES
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies before the House Armed Services Committee, Capitol Hill, Washington, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Cliff Owen/AP)
Peters accused Hegseth of leaving the country in a worse state than when the war began.
“You – you don’t have a strategy, you don’t have a long-term plan to win this war. Win the war! Men and women will be able to do it, but they need leadership. When are you going to show leadership?”
Despite promises to end the conflict with Iran in less than 60 days and many attempts to make a peace agreement, the US continues to struggle with Tehran over control of the strait of Hormuz, an important waterway in the Middle East that acts as a bottleneck for most of the world’s oil trade.
The US began the war with joint strikes against Israel on Feb. 28 that killed Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei.
Hegseth, undeterred, fired back, pointing out that Democrats have allowed skepticism about the administration’s border protection policies to spill over into government funding, including labor.
COST OF IRAN WAR TAG HITS $80B — MORE THAN CONGRESS TELLS
Sen. Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan and a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee, during a hearing in Washington, DC, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“When are you going to show leadership and stand up against your fellow Democrats who won’t fund the military, who play party politics while you don’t give us money? Do you want to stand up here and talk about the military?” Hegseth said.
“You will not show the political courage to support our department because you have Trump derangement syndrome and you will not commit to anything meaningful. So, I put this to you, Senator.”
As part of his critique, Hegseth said he believes Democrats’ misgivings about the U.S. military began before Trump’s time in office.
“I mean, the Biden administration ignored hypersonics,” Hegseth said, referring to supersonic missiles — a feat achieved by China in 2019.
“They just decided to pretend that that technology doesn’t exist and we shouldn’t invest in it. There are things – I don’t know what Lloyd Austin did for four years. I really don’t know. The amount of neglect, the amount of stale thinking and bureaucracy; it was amazing when we took it,” said Hegseth, referring to the Secretary of Defense under President Joe Biden.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS ACTUALLY ‘HIGHLY DISCUSSED’ AS 84-DAY WAR CLOSES POSSIBLE END
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a press conference with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun at the Pentagon on Oct. 30, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (Nishimura/Getty Images)
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The clash in the hearings comes as lawmakers weigh the Defense Department’s 2027 spending requirements.
The administration requested a record-breaking budget of $1.5 billion, which is a significant increase over the estimated $900 billion Congress allocated for the year 2026.
