“[The administration has got] to communicate that better. … You've got to come up here and sell your vision to the board of directors of America, which is us. Everyone has every right to be skeptical … [the Pentagon's] been almost a symbol of bureaucratic dysfunction. It's not quite Somali fraud in Minnesota, but it's been some pretty dumb sh*t we spent money on.
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Hegseth Pitches His $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget on Capitol Hill and Locks Democrats Out of Every Classified Briefing — and It Is Senate Republicans Who Tell Him to Stop
August 12, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made at least two closed-door trips to Capitol Hill in early August 2026 to sell President Trump's record $1.5 trillion defense budget, and lawmakers in both parties said he excluded Democrats from every session. The sharpest criticism came from Republicans on the Armed Services Committee, who warned that the appropriations portion of the package cannot pass without Democratic votes. Sen. Thom Tillis said Hegseth "calls himself the secretary of war" but will not "go to war and win the argument with nearly half the members of the Senate." Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the briefings "need to be bipartisan," and Sen. Mike Rounds said Democrats "need to be brought up to speed," while adding that classified material must stay classified. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on Foreign Relations, said the pattern extended past the Pentagon to routine committee-staff briefings. Senate Democrats threatened to withhold support from defense spending bills over the exclusions. The Pentagon said it "remains fully committed to working with Congress."
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“[It] comes down to relationships, and I don't think he's built strong enough relationships. … [W]hy is anybody going to blindly appropriate anything to him?
“I agree there's friction. … Anybody who thinks that we're going to get money for the Pentagon, which needs it, other than through reconciliation, needs to put down the bong.
“Republicans are frustrated that he hasn't reached out to Democrats. He didn't in his confirmation, and he hasn't much since at all. … [The continued lack of engagement with Democrats] continues to be a strategic error. … [The firings have] bothered some people. And it probably has had an impact on morale a little bit. But all in all, I think Pete's a pretty strong leader.
“I don't like reconciliation, period. … One of my concerns, which unfortunately has been borne out, was that he would fire a lot of very capable military officials, and he has done that. He has blocked promotions for some of our most capable military officers. The number of women and Black people that had been struck from the list was awful. … He also is not the most respectful when it comes to Congress' role.
“He calls himself the secretary of war, but ironically, he doesn't want to go to war and win the argument with nearly half the members of the Senate. You got to engage.
“Not only are they excluding Democrats from classified briefings, they're also not having the kind of routine briefings with committee staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that have been the hallmark since I got here 18 years ago.
“I know that sometimes you want to have smaller groups, but I think it needs to be bipartisan.
“The Democrat members need to be brought up to speed. But there has to be a clear understanding that the information that's being provided to them cannot be publicly discussed.
“The Department of War remains fully committed to working with Congress to ensure our warfighters have the resources necessary to execute their mission.