Gillibrand Exposes Hegseth's $1.5 Trillion War "Slush Fund" Lie — Full Hearing Exchange

[0:00] You're asking for $1.5 trillion, unlimited money for bombs, but insufficient money in the American, [0:07] for the American people, for their health care, their food, their housing. I don't know how this [0:12] administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people. Not unlimited bombs, [0:18] Senator. I'm asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries [0:22] into the future. And that's why this is a generational investment. And it was the [0:25] previous administration didn't fund this department. The reason why they are so upset with you and this [0:31] administration is because the words you have used in the past don't add up. $1.5 trillion for bombs, [0:39] yet 160,000 citizens are left to starve. In a masterclass of political accountability, [0:46] Senator Kirsten Gillibrand just weaponized her rare dual seat on the Armed Services and Agriculture [0:51] Committees to trap the administration in an inescapable paradox. While Pete Hegseth demanded [0:58] a staggering $1.5 trillion for a war Donald Trump previously claimed was already won, [1:05] Gillibrand dropped the hammer on the brutal domestic reality. Everyday families and farmers [1:11] are suffocating under slashed Medicaid, gutted food assistance, and skyrocketing fuel and fertilizer costs. [1:20] Then came the geopolitical kill shot. She exposed their ultimate contradiction. How could the [1:27] administration boast about obliterating Iran's nuclear capabilities, only to launch a massive war [1:35] eight months later claiming Iran was just two weeks away from building a bomb? Cornered by the sheer [1:43] hypocrisy of writing blank checks for war while Americans go hungry, Hegseth had no real defense, [1:50] only a panicked, dismissive deflection. You're making campaign commercials. [1:57] Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Secretary Hegseth, you're requesting billions of dollars in supplemental [2:04] funding for a war that you said would last for weeks, and that the president has no plan or ability [2:11] to end. At the same time, this still unauthorized and extremely unpopular war has caused gas, diesel, [2:20] fertilizer, and other essentials that New Yorkers and our farmers need across the country and has become [2:28] much more expensive. So how do I go back to New York and what would you say to them who are seeing [2:37] their health care bills rise because massive cuts to Medicaid, they've seen their grocery and gas bills [2:44] rise, and this unpopular and unauthorized war abroad is a higher priority to this administration [2:52] than their ability to feed their families and provide health care to their loved ones who are sick? [2:57] Well, Senator, you're talking about political trade-offs, and our job is to deliver for the United States [3:05] military and the president of the United States, and we look at the cost of a nuclear Iran, and we want to [3:10] prevent that for future generations, and that requires funding and supplementals and this budget and next [3:15] generation capabilities, and that's why we're here today to request some of that to ensure we can ensure that [3:20] Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. So you're essentially saying, you're asking for literally [3:24] $1.5 trillion for a war that President Trump said he already won. You're asking for $1.5 trillion, [3:31] unlimited money for bombs, but insufficient money in the American, for the American people, for their [3:37] health care, their food, their housing, and our farmers, Secretary Rollins, who we have cut SNAP [3:46] program. We are not funding the losses from emergencies that have happened in blue states, [3:54] particularly when we have cross. That's not true. False. You're not funding it. But back to you, [3:59] Secretary Hegseth. And I would like to respond to the fertilizer and the gas. [4:03] Have your chance, Secretary Hegseth. There's no reason to be rude. [4:06] You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can't feed their families, and I don't know [4:12] how this administration intends to defend those decisions to the American people. [4:17] Not unlimited bombs, Senator. I'm asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can [4:21] deter our adversaries into the future, and that's why this is a generational investment, [4:25] and it was the previous administration that didn't fund this department. [4:29] The reason why they are so upset with you and this administration is because the words you have [4:35] used in the past don't add up about Iran specifically. You said that we had obliterated [4:42] quote-end-quote Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons. The president made the same claim. Yet [4:47] eight months later, in February of 2026, the president launched an act of war claiming Iran was [4:52] within two weeks of having a weapon. So when you say two very different things, the American people [4:58] don't know who to believe or what to believe. They just know they can't afford their health care, [5:02] they can't afford their food, they can't afford housing, and our farmers are continuing to suffer. [5:08] So, which is true, was it obliterated or wasn't it? What's the status? [5:13] The nuclear sites under Midnight Hammer were obliterated, but Iranians foolishly continued [5:18] to attempt to pursue nuclear capabilities, which is why we destroyed their defense industrial base [5:23] and so many of the other capabilities to ensure they can't get to a nuclear weapon. So we're staying [5:28] laser focused on the objective, and you're trying to make campaign commercials. No, we're not. So listen to this. [5:33] You also say that you made the missile program, quote, destroyed and made combat ineffective, [5:41] quote, Iran's entire ballistic missile production capacity. Every company that builds every component [5:46] of those missiles has been functionally defeated and destroyed, and that the missile program, existing stockpiles [5:52] were depleted and decimated, almost completely ineffective. So why are there missiles left to hit [5:57] Jordan and result in the loss of life of our brave men and women? [6:02] As we stated from the beginning, the Iranian defense industrial base is effectively gone, [6:06] but they do have underground facilities because they're the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, [6:11] and they've spent 47 years trying to hide their missiles under mountains, just like their nuclear capabilities, [6:17] because they would like to get a nuclear weapon to wield it against us. [6:20] We just don't know what version of the war to believe, because it's either over or it's not over. [6:24] It's within two weeks or it's not two weeks. We have no missiles or we have missiles. And that [6:29] consternation is why so many New Yorkers are perplexed, stressed out, and find this war to be [6:35] incredibly unpopular, because they don't understand the choices that the president's making. They don't [6:40] agree with those choices. Secretary Rollins, so you have cut over 160,000 New Yorkers [6:47] have been kicked off SNAP. What do you have against hardworking New Yorkers, children who need SNAP, [6:52] and seniors who need SNAP? [6:54] Well, first of all, diesel is down under Biden versus today, 581 versus 480. Gas is down from [7:01] Biden today from 484 to 386 today. Fertilizer is down 56% from Biden highs. [7:08] Prices are higher than when you took office. All of those prices are higher than when you took office. [7:14] So you are not making life better for New York farmers. That is not true. That is not true, [7:17] Senator. And let me tell you what New York is stressed out about is the fact that your state [7:21] is taking prime farmland and turning it into a solar farms. That is absolutely inexcusable. [7:27] I have visited the New York farmers two times, two times in upstate New York. [7:33] The Senator's time has expired. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to our witnesses here today. [7:40] I want to begin by first echoing my colleagues' comments that we've heard throughout the hearing [7:47] here and join them in mourning the loss of American service members who were killed in action these [7:53] last few days. My thoughts are with their families, with a service member who remains missing and with [8:00] all those injured during the strikes. And I will continue to pray for their families. Secretary Hegsseff, [8:07] over the course of the war with Iran, I have repeatedly expressed concerns regarding the [8:14] administration's lack of a winning strategy and repeated contradictions about the state of the war. [8:21] If, frankly, it doesn't help that you and your president continues to mislead the American people, [8:28] you and the president have repeatedly said that the war, as we've heard over and over again, [8:32] uh, is almost over or already won. In fact, the president alone has said the war is almost over [8:39] more than 30 times. On March 1st, the president said, uh, we'll be done in four or five weeks. On [8:46] March 9th, he said the war was very complete. On April 8th, he declared total and complete victory, [8:52] 100 percent, no question about it. On the same day you declared Operation Epic Fury was a historic and [8:59] overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital V military victory by any measure. And yet today, [9:06] July 21st, we have soldiers whose remains are sadly going to be returned to their deeply grieving [9:14] families tomorrow. Clearly, the war is not over yet. After months of conflict, our strategy to win [9:22] remains unclear. I have long said the United States has the strongest military in history in the world, [9:29] and I have no doubt that our brave service members can execute any mission and prevail in any battle. [9:36] But without a clear winning strategy, we're at risk of being in another forever war that'll put our [9:41] service members in continued harm's way and continue to cost taxpayers billions of dollars. [9:48] Secretary Haigsev, despite your failure to win this war, uh, you are back now before Congress asking for [9:55] almost 70 billion dollars in additional funding. You're asking the American people for a blank check, [10:01] because once again, the Trump administration's efforts have been an utter and complete failure [10:07] to win this war to this point. So my question for you, sir, is how is your strategy different than [10:14] what we've seen in the past? So far, we have not seen a strategy that's been successful. You mentioned [10:18] nuclear material is the primary goal of the war. It still exists. We haven't dealt with that issue yet. [10:25] You talk about the destruction of missiles, and yet the missiles that we saw hit recent targets are [10:29] actually somehow more lethal, more deadly, more maneuverable than what we have seen in the past. [10:35] So they're obviously improving their munitions. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed, reminding everybody [10:44] it was open before the war. Prices were lower for everybody until the war, and it still remains [10:51] closed. And of course, tragically, people, service members, our warfighters who we care deeply about, [10:57] are still dying. So what's different, Mr. Hegsiv? Secretary Hegsiv? [11:04] I think your characterization of this incredible effort as a failure is reckless. [11:08] And I think it's irresponsible. And I think it smears the sacrifice of the troops that are out there [11:12] making on behalf of the American people to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon. Shame on you [11:17] and others who call this a quagmire and a failure, and then you want to turn around and say you support [11:21] the warfighter. Either you do or you don't. Is the nuclear material still there, sir? [11:25] I can get you a ticket out to CENTCOM and talk to what those Americans are doing, how committed [11:28] they are to this effort, and how they want to ensure that Iran never threatens their families [11:32] with a nuclear weapon. That's the kind of intensity that our warfighters have about making sure [11:37] that Iran isn't capable of doing that. Secretary Hegsiv, if you listen to my comments, [11:41] you would have heard me say how amazing our warfighters are. I heard failure. The word [11:46] heard. I heard exactly what you said. I will tell you how I use the word failure. Because I use the [11:50] word failure to their leaders. You, sir, are the failure. Not the men and women who are on that [11:55] front line. Not the men and women who hold up their honor with distinction. But if there's a lack [12:02] of a winning strategy, they're in harm's way. Their leaders have failed them. And that's what's [12:07] happening. We have political leadership. You. You don't have a strategy. You don't have a long-term [12:12] plan to actually win this war. Win the war. The men and women are going to be able to [12:16] do it, but they need to have leadership. Of course we have leadership. Of course we have leadership. [12:20] When will you show leadership? Why don't you show some leadership and stand up for your [12:23] fellow Democrats who won't fund the troops? Who stand and play partisan politics while you don't [12:27] the money? You want to stand up here and talk about the troops? You won't show any political courage [12:31] to actually fund our department because you have Trump derangement syndrome and can't actually commit [12:36] to anything meaningful. So I put this on you, Senator. Secretary Hegsiv, you have trillions. You have over a [12:42] trillion dollars. You're asking for one and a half trillion dollars. It's not a question of [12:46] money. It's a question of leadership and understanding what it takes to actually win. [12:51] Political cowardice of Democrats who won't fund the troops. Senator's time has expired. [13:01] Let's be absolutely clear about the devastating masterclass in political accountability that [13:06] Senator Kirsten Gillibrand just orchestrated on Capitol Hill, where she weaponized her [13:12] extraordinarily rare dual seat position on both the armed services and agriculture committees to trap the [13:19] administration in an inescapable paradox of its own making, forcing two cabinet secretaries to defend [13:26] side by side a stark dichotomy they desperately wanted to keep entirely separate. In a stunning [13:33] display of legislative cross-examination, Gillibrand dragged the administration's exorbitant 1.5 trillion [13:40] dollars funding request for an unauthorized, deeply unpopular war, a war the president had already [13:46] triumphantly declared one into the exact same glaring spotlight as the brutal systemic cuts to food [13:53] assistance and health care that are currently crushing the very American taxpayers being asked [13:58] to foot this astronomical bill. She laid bare the ultimate geopolitical and domestic trade-off with [14:03] unapologetic clarity, pointing out that while Defense Secretary Pete Hegsiv demands what amounts to a blank [14:10] check for an overseas conflict that was supposed to be over in mere weeks. 160,000 vulnerable New Yorkers [14:18] have been unceremoniously kicked off their vital food assistance, Medicaid has been aggressively slashed, [14:24] and working families alongside struggling farmers are being suffocated by the skyrocketing costs of gas, [14:32] diesel, and essential fertilizers. The senator cornered the administration with a question [14:38] that every constituent facing legislator must eventually answer, but most cowardly avoid. How [14:45] exactly is she supposed to look her constituents in the eye, people who are watching in despair as their [14:51] health care bills climb and their grocery costs soar out of reach, and explain to them that dropping [14:57] unlimited money on bombs in a foreign desert is a higher national priority than their fundamental ability [15:05] to feed their own children and keep a roof over their heads. When confronted with this brutal reality, [15:11] Hegsiv's response was incredibly revealing. He attempted to sanitize the crisis by coldly labeling it [15:18] a mere political trade-off, insisting his sole mandate is to deliver for the military and the president [15:25] before desperately pivoting to the looming specter of a nuclear Iran. A framing Gillibrand utterly refused to [15:34] let stand, as she crystallized the debate into the sharpest, most defining terms of the entire [15:40] hearing. The administration has found unlimited money for destruction, but insufficient funds for the [15:46] survival, health, and dignity of the American people. Though Hegsiv indignantly objected to the word [15:53] unlimited, attempting to rebrand the staggering trillion-dollar ask as a calculated generational [15:59] investment for the right weapons at the right time, his frantic objection only served to concede the [16:05] fundamental architecture of her devastating point, rather than actually rebutting it. But Gillibrand did [16:11] not stop at the financial hypocrisy. She seamlessly pivoted to the glaring fatal contradiction that gave [16:18] this exchange its true undeniable force, exposing a fatal flaw in the war's core justification that the [16:25] secretaries of defense found himself utterly incapable of resolving. She ruthlessly reminded the room [16:31] that the administration, echoing the president's own triumphant rhetoric, had unequivocally claimed to [16:37] the world that it had entirely obliterated Iran's ability to build nuclear weapons in the aftermath of [16:44] Operation Midnight Hammer, only to turn around a mere eight months later, in February of 2026, and launch a [16:51] massive active war predicated on the terrifying claim that Iran was suddenly within a mere two weeks [16:58] of possessing a nuclear bomb. As Gillibrand masterfully pointed out, both of these high-stakes assertions [17:05] fundamentally cannot be true in the same universe. Either the capability was genuinely obliterated as [17:11] promised, or Iran was practically at the nuclear finish line, and the practical consequence of this [17:16] administration speaking out of both sides of its mouth about the exact same existential threat is that [17:24] the American public has been left with absolutely no rational basis to believe a single word about [17:31] the colossal war they are currently being forced to bankroll. Hegseth's desperate, fumbling attempt to [17:39] reconcile this impossible contradiction was the ultimate tell. He weakly argued that while the nuclear sites were [17:46] indeed obliterated, Iran foolishly continued its pursuit, forcing the United States to destroy its broader [17:52] defense industrial base, an answer that quietly but devastatingly conceded Gillibrand's entire premise [18:00] that the word obliterated was deployed purely as a tool for political spin rather than an accurate [18:06] description of military reality. When pressed on this deceit, Hegseth resorted to the oldest most cowardly [18:13] trick in the political playbook, petulantly accusing the senator of grandstanding to make campaign [18:18] commercials, the exact same dismissive deflection he hurled at other senators in a transparent bid to [18:26] attack the questioner rather than answer the damning question. And yet the senator's relentless pursuit of [18:33] the truth only grew more deadly serious when she applied this exact same rigorous test to the administration's [18:42] equally fabricated claims regarding Iran's missile capabilities. Recalling how Hegseth had previously [18:48] swaggered before the cameras to declare that Iran's entire ballistic missile production capacity had been [18:54] unequivocally destroyed, that every single manufacturing company had been functionally defeated and that all [19:01] existing stockpiles were utterly decimated and rendered almost completely ineffective. With chilling precision, [19:08] Gillibrand asked the ultimate question, if those boastful words were true, how is it possible that [19:15] Iranian missiles were inexplicably left intact to strike a base in Jordan? Tragically killing American [19:23] service members in cold blood, cornered by the undeniable reality of American casualties, Hegseth was [19:29] forced into a humiliating retreat, admitting that while the primary industrial base was gone, Iran retained [19:36] vast hidden underground facilities with decades old missiles, a vital life or death caveat that he [19:43] conveniently never bothered to mention to the American people when he falsely promised them the threat was [19:49] decimated, proving that brave Americans died from stockpiles that were far from eliminated. Finally, bringing [19:57] the hearing to its explosive climax, Gillibrand turned her sights on Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to drive the [20:05] guns and the guns and butter argument straight through the administration's heart, citing the hundreds of [20:11] thousands stripped of SNAP benefits and demanding to know exactly what this government has against the working [20:18] families, children and seniors who rely on that razor thin safety net to survive. True to the administration's [20:24] overarching strategy of evasion, Rollins absolutely refused to defend the cruel cuts, instead pivoting wildly to a [20:31] cherry picked economic defense, arguing that diesel and fertilizer prices had dropped from their Biden [20:37] era peaks. A claim Gillibrand instantly eviscerated by noting that these costs still remain significantly higher [20:45] than the day this current administration took power. Ultimately, the entire spectacle laid bare, [20:51] a terrifying through line of deflection. When asked about contradictory statements that cost American lives, [20:58] the defense secretary complained about campaign ads. And when asked about starving American citizens, [21:03] losing their food assistance, the agriculture secretary changed the subject to attack New York [21:09] for building solar panels on farmland, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the American people are not [21:15] stressed because they fail to understand the choices their government is making. But precisely because [21:21] they understand them perfectly, and they see clearly that absolutely no one in power possesses the courage or the [21:28] integrity to explain this betrayal honestly.