During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Patty Murray delivered a blistering takedown of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, forcing him to answer for the staggering and still uncounted cost of President Trump’s war with Iran, and what American families are being asked to sacrifice to fund it.
The Washington state Democrat came in with receipts on May 12, noting that Hegseth’s own team had already testified to a jaw-dropping price tag.
“Earlier this morning, your team testified Trump’s war with Iran cost $29 billion so far,” Murray said. “That is $29 billion blown on a war of choice. And that’s what it would have cost actually to save the ACA [Affordable Care Act] tax credits.”
But Murray wasn’t done.
She pressed Hegseth on reporting that Iran had struck at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites, damage that wasn’t factored into the official cost estimate. When she asked for a breakdown, the answer was telling.
“For the military construction, I don’t have a cost estimate to provide you at this time,” admitted Jules W. Hurst III, the acting comptroller.
“Well, when will we get that?” Murray pressed. She never got a straight answer.
With the clock running and patience gone, Murray turned the lens on what ordinary Americans are giving up to foot the bill.
“People are paying four, five, even six or seven dollars for gas. You’re spending families’ hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose, and you’re forcing people to pay more at the pump — and yet you’re not even providing a real breakdown for the cost of this war.”
Murray saved her sharpest words for last, cutting through the administration’s carefully constructed messaging with a single devastating observation.
“Your budget request cuts through Trump’s ramblings and really to me makes the truth clear,” she said, her voice steady and deliberate. “You and the president don’t value families as much as you value defense contractors.”
Hegseth couldn’t let it stand.
“I meet every family at Dover,” he interrupted.
Murray didn’t flinch. “Let me finish,” she shot back.
“You want to increase the war budget for the next year by half a trillion dollars. That is taxpayer money that could be used to feed families, build affordable homes, or wipe out some diseases completely … but you are asking us to blow it all on war. It’s a huge payday for defense contractors … to me this is absurd.”
Murray closed by invoking President Dwight Eisenhower, quoting his warning that every weapon built represents a theft from those who are hungry and cold. Then she landed the final blow.
“That is what this budget proposal is asking. It’s going to leave Americans cold and hungry to fund Trump’s war and make defence contractors a fortune.”
