Hegseth and Caine Testify on $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget as Trump Slams Iran Ceasefire

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine are scheduled to testify Tuesday before House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees that handle Pentagon budget requests. The appearances come as the Trump administration seeks $1.5 trillion for fiscal year 2027 amid the Iran war.

Hegseth and Caine will testify in back-to-back hearings before the panels that oversee defense spending. The proposed budget, which sets a baseline for negotiations with Congress on annual spending, would increase defense outlays by 42 percent from 2026 levels.

President Trump said Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is "on life support" after he rejected the latest Iran peace proposal as "totally unacceptable." Trump told CBS News that he plans to suspend the gas tax amid rising gas prices.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the $1.5 trillion figure "outrageous."

"When I got to the Senate five and a half years ago, the defense budget was just over $700 billion," Kelly said Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." "Now they're asking for twice as much money — it's nearly the amount that the rest of the world pays for its defense."

The hearings arrive as the Trump administration draws growing criticism for launching the Iran war without congressional approval. Several war powers resolutions have failed to advance, but two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky — have sided with Democrats to push a measure curbing Trump's war powers. GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she plans to introduce a formal authorization for the use of military force in Iran.