TENSE MOMENT: Murray Accuses Hegseth Of Valuing Defense Contractors Over Families To His Face

[0:00] Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. [0:03] Mr. Secretary, the war in Iran has not only cost [0:06] 13 American service member lives, [0:08] it is also costing American taxpayers dearly. [0:13] Tens of billions of dollars and counting, [0:15] and that's money that could be helping people [0:17] perhaps get health care. [0:19] But instead, we're paying for bombs dropped in a war [0:21] that American people overwhelmingly oppose. [0:24] Now, earlier this morning, I know that your team testified [0:27] Trump's war with Iran cost 29 billion so far. [0:31] That is $29 billion blown on a war of choice, [0:34] and that's what it would have cost actually [0:36] to save the ACA tax credits. [0:39] But as my colleagues have already stated, [0:41] what is concerning as well is it seems quite clear [0:44] that that cost estimate is suspiciously low. [0:48] Now, your acting comptroller suggested that damage [0:51] to U.S. facilities was not factored into that figure. [0:54] It is clear that there has been extensive damage [0:58] to American military assets, [1:00] new reporting from the Washington Post and others indicates [1:03] that Iran has hit at least 228 structures or pieces [1:07] of equipment at U.S. military sites. [1:10] Can you tell us what the cost of damage done to U.S. facilities is [1:15] because of this war? [1:18] Well, I think Jay covered pretty clearly what we can [1:20] or cannot share. [1:21] But I would simply respond that, and I think it's an important point, [1:26] considering what the president is undertaking, is what is the cost [1:28] of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon? [1:30] And the fact that this president's been willing to make a historic [1:32] and courageous choice to confront that, it comes with cost, [1:35] and we recognize that. [1:36] I understand what your judgment is. [1:38] We have a judgment as well, and I'm asking if you can tell us, [1:40] and at what point you can tell us what the cost of damage done [1:43] to U.S. facilities is because of this war. [1:46] Yeah, ma'am, thanks for the question. [1:47] So for future posture in the least, we don't know what that's going to look like. [1:51] We don't know how we're going to design these bases. [1:53] The damage to date, you do not have any cost estimate on it at all. [1:56] For the military construction, I don't have a cost estimate [1:58] to provide you at this time. [1:59] Well, when will we get that? [2:01] Again, it depends on what the future posture is, [2:04] how we decide to construct those bases. [2:05] To date, you know what has happened to date. [2:07] We can't get that number, and that is a real concern to us. [2:10] Our job is to appropriate dollars, and we're just told it's coming, [2:13] it's coming, and we don't get it, so it's very hard to do our budgets. [2:17] And right now, Mr. Secretary, people are paying four or five, [2:20] even six, seven dollars for gas, and American taxpayers are now on the hook [2:25] as well for paying for this disastrous war. [2:28] You're spending families' hard-earned tax dollars on a war [2:32] that many strongly oppose, and you're forcing people to pay more at the pump, [2:37] and yet you're not even providing a real breakdown [2:39] for the cost of this war so far. [2:42] We have no real details. [2:43] You have indicated that, and yet now you want Congress [2:46] to send you one and a half trillion dollars more. [2:51] To me, that is unacceptable, and I hope our Republican colleagues will join us [2:55] in not only rejecting that absurd request, but in insisting that the American people [3:01] get the actual answers on how much money, their money, we are spending on this. [3:06] Now, let me turn and say, Secretary Hegg says that the President has called Medicaid, [3:13] Medicare, and child care little scams and said, quote, [3:16] we're fighting wars. [3:17] We cannot take care of daycare. [3:21] I'm just trying to understand that. [3:22] Is it your position, since you're asking taxpayers for another half a trillion dollars for the war, [3:28] that American families should be forced to give up child care and health coverage so that you can have one [3:33] and a half trillion dollars for this budget? [3:35] Senator, that's not my department. [3:39] I certainly support this, and I also support the President's efforts to find [3:43] and remove fraud wherever possible in a general sense. [3:46] Well, I'm not talking about fraud. [3:46] And we do that in our department as well. [3:48] I'm not talking about fraud. [3:50] I actually asked whether an American family should lose their health care [3:55] or their child care to pay for this budget. [3:57] That is literally what the President suggested. [3:59] The President has proposed a historic $1.5 trillion budget that will defend the nation [4:07] and confront threats like Iran, which previous presidents allowed to happen, [4:11] as Senator Graham pointed out. [4:13] Previous administrations said they wanted to take care of this problem, [4:15] and they did not, and he's doing it. [4:17] The question in front of this committee, the question in front of the American people, [4:20] is what are they being asked to give up for this one and a half trillion dollars? [4:25] That's where I was talking about. [4:26] And lastly, Mr. Secretary, your budget request cuts through Trump's ramblings [4:32] and really, to me, makes the truth clear that you and the President don't value families [4:36] as much as you value defense contractors. [4:39] You want to increase the war budget. [4:40] I meet every family at Dover. [4:43] Okay, don't tell me we don't care about families. [4:44] We sure do. [4:45] And we take care of them in every way we possibly can. [4:48] I'm asking you about taxpayer dollars that everybody has. [4:52] When we've been to war before, we have asked people to do victory gardens. [4:55] We've asked them to pay more. [4:57] You are not doing that. [4:58] You are taking one, asking for one and a half trillion dollars, [5:01] which means something else has to be given up. [5:03] That is what this committee is looking at. [5:05] You want to increase the war budget for the next year by half a trillion dollars. [5:10] That is taxpayer money that could be used to feed families or build new affordable homes [5:15] or wipe out some diseases completely or increase child investments 20 times over. [5:21] But you are asking us to blow it all on war, [5:24] and that's not even counting the money that you have spent bombing Iran [5:27] or that you may still request in a separate supplemental. [5:31] And to me, this budget wasn't even strategically crafted. [5:34] One and a half trillion dollars is like the president decided that was the number [5:38] and you all filled in the blanks. [5:40] So what I'm here today to say is you ask for a massive laundry list of unnecessary spending. [5:46] It's a huge payday for defense contractors, [5:49] and you still don't even ask to give DOD civilian workers a pay raise. [5:53] And to me, this is absurd. [5:54] I know you do not care what I have to say. [5:57] So let me quote you someone you might actually listen to, President Eisenhower. [6:01] He said, [6:02] Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense [6:10] a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. [6:16] This world in arms is not spending money alone. [6:19] It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. [6:25] That is what this budget proposal is asking. [6:28] It's going to leave Americans cold and hungry to fund Trump's war and make defense contractors a fortune. [6:34] So that is why I hope this committee throws that in the trash [6:38] and comes together with a budget that works for all American families. [6:42] Thank you, Mr. Secretary.