Pete Hegseth met with bipartisan criticism Wednesday as the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee hearing kicked off.
Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies before the House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee oversight hearing on the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, slammed him, saying that “more of your time so far has been spent inside the building on culture wars, rather than outside the building, deterring real ones.”
He criticized Hegseth’s moves to fire the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other “qualified uniformed leaders” and said the Pentagon is worried more” about each other than America’s enemies.
The chairman, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, expressed frustration that the Trump administration has yet to provide Congress with a full defense budget. He said current funding isn’t enough to support the nation’s defense, and the administration’s limited budget request has no funding for Ukraine security assistance — casting doubt on the potential for “lasting peace.”
Hegseth said he has moved quickly to kill wasteful programs and redirect funding to Trump’s priorities as his department assembles a comprehensive budget request.
