Senator King Questions Defense Budget Construction

“$1.5 trillion is about a 40-plus percent increase from FY26. Am I right that not a penny of that is to go to a pay raise for the 800,000 civilians who work for the Department of Defense?”

“On April 29, US Defense Secretary Hegseth accepted questioning from the House Military Committee regarding the Pentagon budget proposal. During the hearing, the US-Iran war issue became a focus.”

“Democrats in the House criticized Hegseth for constantly changing reasons for war with Iran, attempting to cover up war expenditures.”

“Democratic Representative Adam Smith requested Hegseth to reconcile two seemingly contradictory statements regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities and the $25 billion war cost.”

“California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna questioned on the spot whether this $25 billion budget included costs for base damage, ammunition, and other equipment losses.”

“California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna questioned on the spot whether this $25 billion budget included costs such as base damage, ammunition, and other equipment losses.”

“California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna questioned on the spot whether this 25 billion dollar budget included costs such as base damage, ammunition costs, and other equipment losses.”

“Pentagon officials told Congress that in just the first six days after the war broke out, more than 11.3 billion dollars were spent.”

“California Democratic Representative Rocana questioned on the spot whether this 25 billion dollar budget included costs such as base damage, ammunition costs, and other equipment losses.”

“I'd like to talk about several other aspects of the budget. The first is the way the budget has been constructed.”

“the budget. The first is the way the budget has been constructed.”

“Why do we suddenly have a two-part budget where this committee and the Congress generally has oversight and input to a process where a quarter of the budget is essentially a slush fund?”

“To my knowledge, we've never used this reconciliation process for a defense budget before. What's going on? ... What you're really saying is we don't want to deal with that pesky Congress and their appropriation process.”

“30 billion for salaries for bureaucrats, pensions and social safety net programs and government operations to keep the state functioning during wartime.”