A $150 billion military spending debate was overshadowed Tuesday when House Armed Services Committee Democrats attempted to hold Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accountable for numerous Pentagon scandals, efforts that were blocked by their Republican colleagues.
During the markup of the $150 billion Pentagon spending measure — part of the GOP’s massive reconciliation legislation — Democrats offered several amendments to address Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to relay sensitive military plans, as well as the reported chaos in the Defense Department under his leadership.
“They have not even begun to prove that there is a chance in hell that they will spend this money intelligently, efficiently and effectively,” committee ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said at the top of the meeting, referring to President Trump and his Pentagon chief. “Secretary Hegseth has proven himself to be completely incapable of doing the job of secretary of Defense.”
Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.), said the fact that Hegseth is still in his role “is a joke,” and that she was appalled by Republicans’ silence.
“At some point, you have to speak to the American people,” she said.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), meanwhile, said Congress “should not give Pete Hegseth a $150 billion blank check. Heck, I wouldn’t trust the secretary with 20 bucks.”
The GOP’s reconciliation bill has already drawn Democrats’ ire as it would cause steep cuts in several federal agencies and non-defense programs while boosting Pentagon coffers to more than $1 trillion when combined with the already approved $886 billion defense budget for fiscal year 2025.
It’s a rare instance that the method of reconciliation is being used to raise the military’s budget, with House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) calling it a “historic day” for the panel and “an opportunity to make a generational investment in our national security.”
The measure includes $33.7 billion for shipbuilding, nearly $25 billion for Trump’s long-discussed Golden Dome missile defense initiative, $12.9 billion for nuclear deterrence, $11.1 billion for deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, nearly $9 billion for quality-of-life programs, and $5 billion for border security.
Though Republicans had the numbers to advance the measure, Democrats drew out the markup by debating more than 20 amendments that touched mostly on Hegseth. The Pentagon secretary has been in hot water over revelations he used the Signal app in March to relay airstrike plans against Houthi militants in Yemen to his wife, brother and personal lawyer, as well as mistakenly to a journalist in a separate chat with senior national security officials.
Smith, for example, offered an amendment that would have prevented 75 percent of the $150 billion from being used until Hegseth reviewed the Pentagon’s classification policies and developed a plan for better operational security.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), put forward one measure to reduce Hegseth's salary and another that would prohibit new reconciliation dollars from going toward a contract for any company with an employee who serves as a special government employee — effectively targeting billionaire Elon Musk and concerns about conflicts of interest while he leads DOGE.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), offered an amendment that would have stopped the entire bill from taking effect until Hegseth is out at the Pentagon.
And one measure called for written justification for Hegseth’s February firing of former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown.
Democrats also had amendments to block any reshuffling of U.S. military combatant commands amid fears the Trump administration may try to draw down troops from certain regions. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) put forward an amendment that would have blocked the Defense Department from consolidating U.S. European and Africa Command.
But Republicans refused to play ball, with no GOP members joining the debate over Hegseth’s fitness to serve and no proposals from Democrats adopted by the committee.
The Republican-majority panel ultimately voted 35 to 21 to approve the defense portion of the reconciliation plan and send it to the full House for consideration next month. A final draft of the total reconciliation package also must be negotiated between the House and the Senate.
Five Democrats joined all the committee Republicans to vote to pass the legislation, including Jared Golden (Maine), Gabe Vazquez (N.M.), Don Davis (N.C.), George Whitesides (Calif.), and Eugene Vindman (Va.).
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