Pete Hegseth faces questions over $87.6bn additional funding for Pentagon

Defense secretary and chair of the joint chiefs face Senate appropriations committee to continue Iran war effort

US defense secretary Pete Hegseth walked into the Senate on Tuesday to defend the Trump administration’s $87.6bn supplemental funding request, facing lawmakers furious that the US-Israel war on Iran is costing far more than the White House has admitted.

Hegseth and the chair of the joint chiefs, Gen Dan Caine, faced the Senate appropriations committee, chaired by Susan Collins of Maine, as the Pentagon said it is running low on cash to keep the fight going.

Of the total request, $67.1bn of the request is earmarked specifically to keep the war effort funded.