Pete Hegseth defends ongoing war in Iran and requests $88bn more to pay for it during Senate committee testimony – live

Pete Hegseth defends ongoing war in Iran: Wanderstayfinder.com – In the Oval Office today, Donald Trump defended the new 50% tariffs on most Canadian

Wanderstayfinder.com – In the Oval Office today, Donald Trump defended the new 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods. “Canada has been very, very tough on us over the years, for many years, and no other president’s done anything about it,” Trump said. “In all fairness to them, they need us to survive.

Without us, there’s no way they can survive.” This week, the White House said that the new levies were because Canada has unfairly discriminated against American cars, alcohol and dairy products. The tariffs will go into effect in 30 days, leaving time for possible discussions between the two countries. Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, said that he spoke with Trump earlier on Tuesday.

“We agreed to intensify negotiations in the coming weeks, and the team and myself look forward to doing that,” Carney told reporters. The tariffs will hit a wide range of products, the White House said, including wine, hockey sticks and cement. They also include goods previously protected from import taxes under the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement.

Trump told members of the press that the latest round of tariffs was not in response to the Canadian wildfire smoke that spread across North America last week, and the president railed against. On Friday, Trump blasted Canada for its response to the persistent wildfires and the smoke that affected about 109 million people across the midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-east. “The cost is incalculable!” Trump raged on social media.

“This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.” However, the president told reporters on Tuesday that his administration is looking at those tariffs “separately”. At the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was asked by senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and veteran who previously taught economics and international relations at West Point, whether Iran can be deterred and defeated by “air strikes alone”. “I think, academically, as you look across the totality of history, air power’s got limits, and we always have to be mindful of those,” Caine responded.

He went on to say that the US is combing military power with “the totality of the diplomatic, informational and economic” measures. “There’s a loot of that work going on, sir,” Trump’s hand-picked joint chiefs chair added. Reed then asked if Caine anticipates the next step in escalation: ground troops.

“Sir, I think it would be unhelpful for me to opine on hypotheticals,” Caine replied. He added that the Pentagon’s job was to develop military options, and understand the risks associated with them. “My main job is to always ensure that leaders understand those options and the risks,” Caine added.

Hegseth has yet to make reference to the deaths of the three US service members last week in the Iran conflict. In his opening remarks Dan Caine, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, asked the senators and American public to “never forget our fallen and their families, who continue to show us what courage, tenacity, grit, and commitment to the nation looks like”. The defense secretary’s remarks come despite the fact that both chambers have passed a war powers resolution that urges the president to seek congressional authorization to continue military operations in Iran.

While answering questions by Republican senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Hegseth said that his department thinks “standalone Article II authorities exist for us to conduct this operation on behalf of the defense of the American people”. The defense secretary evaded the lawmaker’s question about whether he would use the approval of any supplemental funding as a “substitute for explicit congressional authorization”. Hegseth responded to a question from Senator Susan Collins – the chair of the appropriations committee – about the impact on military exercises if the supplemental funding is not provided.

The defense secretary said that current and future training “would have to be curtailed” if the Pentagon does not get its budget needs met urgently. “This $1.5tn dollar budget with this supplemental being part of it is how we catch up and get ahead, and ensure in the process we’re putting soldiers and sailors and airmen first, marines first … So rather than trying to play catch up and make sure we’re not losing training. We should be ahead of that curve,” Hegseth added.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth and joint chiefs of staff chairman Dan Caine are now testifying in front of lawmakers on the Senate appropriations committee about Trump’s $88bn supplemental funding request, which would help pay for the war in Iran. Hegseth, said that without the funds he is requesting from Congress today, the Pentagon will face “critical shortfalls” that threaten our ability to “pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption”. In the Oval Office today, Donald Trump defended the new 50% tariffs on most Canadian goods.

“Canada has been very, very tough on us over the years,” Trump said. “In all fairness to them, they need us to survive. Without us, there’s no way they can survive.” Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, said that he spoke with Trump earlier on Tuesday.

“We agreed to intensify negotiations in the coming weeks, and the team and myself look forward to doing that,” Carney told reporters. During the same appearance, while meeting with Lebanon’s president Joseph Auon, Trump continued to give mixed-messages about the status of the Iran conflict. He noted that the US has decimated Tehran’s military capabilities, but the conflict will not end soon.“We have done damage that will take them 25 years to recover from.

So, if we left tomorrow, we had a big success. But we’re not leaving tomorrow,” Trump said. The Trump administration has paused more than $1bn in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, citing “suspected fraud and noncompliance”.

“If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate,” said Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said at a press conference on Tuesday. The pause includes more than $867m for California and about $200m for Minnesota. Pete Hegseth, said that without the funds he is requesting from Congress today, the Pentagon will face “critical shortfalls” that threaten our ability to “pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operations without disruption”.

He explained that this supplemental request is not a “substitute” for the $1.5tn the Pentagon is asking for in the next fiscal year. Pete Hegseth’s testimony before Senate lawmakers was quickly interrupted, on a number of occasions, by anti-war protesters in the hearing room. Collins paused the proceedings as a result, and called on the Capitol police to remove those interrupting the hearing.

Patty Murray, the top Democratic senator on the appropriations committee, has slammed the latest White House funding request for the Iran war. “Our country is no safer or better off than before the war. In fact, we are considerably less safe,” Murray said.

“Our stockpiles have been depleted, and it will take years of production to fully replenish them … and we are now much further away from a long-term solution to halt Iran’s nuclear program than we were before Trump ripped up the deal that President Obama negotiated, which secured actual, measurable commitments and progress without ever starting a costly war.” Murray noted that in the five months since the war began, the strait of Hormuz– which was open prior to the conflict – is still closed. “This war is now spiraling out of control again. The president is threatening escalation and war crimes, and suggesting this could be another forever war,” she said.

“[Trump] has told us over 40 times now that a deal is ‘near’ and the war will ‘be over soon’. But now he is asking for 70 billion dollars more, and for us to just trust him.” The hearing where defense secretary Pete Hegseth and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine will testify before Senate appropriations lawmakers, and explain their request for $80bn in supplemental funding for the Iran, has started. The committee chair – Republican senator Susan Collins – kicked off by noting that “irrespective of our differing views about the military operations”, there are “must-pay bills and urgent requirements facing the department that affect the ability of our troops to be well trained”.

Collins – a noted moderate who is facing a reelection battle in her state of Maine – also pointed to “deeply troubling” reports that dozens of senior officers removed from promotion lists, many of whom appear to women and people of color. “This is likely to discourage well-qualified women and individuals of color from joining our armed forces, thus depriving us of their talent, dedication, and patriotism,” Collins said in her opening remarks. “The United States military is one of the greatest meritocracies in the free world.

We need to make sure that it stays that way.” Later today we can also expect a vote on Jay Clayton’s nomination to lead the national intelligence agencies. A reminder that Clayton – who serves as the US attorney for the southern district of New York – testified before lawmakers on the Senate intelligence committee last week. During the hearing Trump’s pick to be the country’s next intelligence chief refused to say that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

He also evaded questions about his previous election integrity claims and whether or not a White House official asked him to subpoena a group of New York Times journalists as part of an alleged national security investigation. On Sunday, the intelligence committee’s top Democrat, Mark Warner, said he would vote against Clayton as the nation’s top spy, to officially replace acting director Bill Pulte – who has received backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for his lack of experience in the intelligence community. “I’ve known Jay for a long time.

I like Jay. I worked well with him when he was at the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission]. But I was bitterly disappointed by his performance in front of my committee,” Warner told CBS News.

The Trump administration has paused more than $1bn in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, citing “suspected fraud and noncompliance” – withholding of funding that follows a $243m pause in Medicaid payments to Minnesota earlier this year. “If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate,” said Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said at a press conference on Tuesday. Officials relied on AI to identify potential fraud, Kennedy said.

“We used AI, advanced analytics, and other cutting-edge tools to identify suspicious activity and potential fraud.” The pause includes more than $867m for California and about $200m for Minnesota. In California, most of the suspected fraud was in in-home services, he said. Kennedy has several times singled out in-home care provision, which can be a lifeline for disabled individuals – rhetoric that has worried families and angered lawmakers.

Vice-President JD Vance threatened in March to withhold funding to states if they did not cooperate with a new fraud taskforce, headed by Vance and established by a White House executive order.