Despite pleas and threats from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Senate Republicans left for their summer break without handing him more money that he insists he needs.
According to a report from Politico, GOP unity is “splintering under the weight of President Donald Trump’s party-line push” for the biggest defense budget in modern history.
Senators departed for recess without advancing Hegseth’s “crown jewel” agenda: a $1.5 trillion defense budget designed to implement Trump’s military vision, from new battleships to a Golden Dome missile defense shield.
Hegseth’s personal lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill have failed to persuade Republicans to “steamroll Democrats” and pass the record-breaking proposal with an increasingly vocal group of GOP lawmakers questioning why the administration expects them to expend political capital on Trump’s priorities with midterms looming.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) articulated the core Republican concern: “So much of that additional defense funding is banking on not only a third, but potentially a fourth reconciliation bill. So what if that doesn’t come? I’ve asked Pentagon officials: you have your F-35s, your Patriot missiles baked into that—what’s your plan B? And it’s been tough to get an answer.”
According to Politico, “Several top Republicans are skeptical about the Trump administration’s two-track approach to clinching $1.5 trillion. This relies on the GOP using the partisan reconciliation process — which allows the majority to bypass Democrats entirely — to provide $350 billion, the bulk of the increase. But now Hegseth wants Congress to pass tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars in new spending for the military.”
Now the narrower war funding request and the larger budget proposal have stalled on Capitol Hill, which led Hegseth to vent at lawmakers who refuse to give him what he wants.
“Not funding this department at 1.5 trillion, I believe, is the greatest threat that our nation faces,” he warned Republicans last month. “Either we invest in our warriors at this moment of … growing threats, or this is all just talk.”
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