{"id":70021,"date":"2025-06-09T17:58:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T17:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/06\/09\/in-looming-hegseth-hearings-republicans-may-air-their-budget-peeves\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:23:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:23:58","slug":"in-looming-hegseth-hearings-republicans-may-air-their-budget-peeves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2025\/06\/09\/in-looming-hegseth-hearings-republicans-may-air-their-budget-peeves\/","title":{"rendered":"In looming Hegseth hearings, Republicans may air their budget peeves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first time Pete Hegseth testified before Congress the hardest questions he faced were from Democrats who accused him of sexual and alcohol abuse \u2014 both of which he denied as \u201canonymous smears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as America\u2019s defense secretary returns to Capitol Hill for a week of testimony, he\u2019s likely to get sharper questioning from his own party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After five months atop the Pentagon, Hegseth has dismissed top U.S. officers, slashed the Defense Department\u2019s workforce and fired much of his own staff. For a defense secretary confirmed by the narrowest margin possible, the rapid changes have concerned even some Republican members of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is it. This is really the first oversight\u201d of Hegseth\u2019s time as secretary, said Mark Montgomery, a retired rear admiral and former Senate Armed Services Committee aide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth will testify in multiple hearings focused on defense spending. But in an unusual twist, these hearings will occur without the Pentagon actually releasing its budget request, which is already months late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in his January hearing, Hegseth will likely face blistering criticism from Democrats aghast at his handling of the Defense Department \u2014 from sharing sensitive attack plans on a group chat to tasking the U.S. military with more missions on American soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he may also face hard questions from Republicans, many of whom have publicly chafed at the administration\u2019s plans for military spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\t