Hegseth vs. Murray: The Iran War's Price Tag, Fact-Checked

What This Hearing Was About

  <p>On May 12, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee to defend the administration's FY2027 budget request: $1.5 trillion for the Department of Defense — the largest request in American history and a 44% increase over FY2026 enacted levels.<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The hearing came as the Iran war, which began on February 28, 2026, entered its third month under a fragile ceasefire. Hours earlier, Acting Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers the war had cost $29 billion — up from $25 billion just two weeks prior.<sup><a href="#s2">[2]</a></sup> That figure immediately drew bipartisan skepticism.</p>

  <p>Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, used her questioning time to challenge both the war's cost transparency and the broader trade-off: a $1.5 trillion defense budget at a time when the administration had allowed ACA health subsidies to expire, cut Medicaid by $1 trillion over ten years, and slashed SNAP food assistance by $187 billion.<sup><a href="#s3">[3]</a></sup></p>

  <p>The exchange — captured in the video above and the <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-grills-hegseth-on-iran-war-trumps-astronomical-1-5-trillion-war-budget-and-spending-priorities/">official Senate press release</a> — runs about six minutes. What follows is the full transcript, followed by a claim-by-claim fact-check of both sides.</p>

  <h2>The Exchange</h2>

  <div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>Mr. Secretary, the war in Iran has not only cost 13 American servicemembers lives, it is also costing American taxpayers dearly. Tens of billions of dollars and counting — and that's money that could be helping people perhaps get health care, but instead we're paying for bombs dropped in a war that American people overwhelmingly oppose.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>Now, earlier this morning, your team testified Trump's war with Iran cost $29 billion so far. That is $29 billion blown on a war of choice — and that's what it would have cost actually to save the ACA tax credits. But as my colleagues have already stated, what is concerning as well is it seems quite clear that cost estimate is suspiciously low. Your acting comptroller suggested that damage to U.S. facilities was not factored into that figure. It is clear there has been extensive damage to American military assets. New reporting from the Washington Post and others indicates that Iran has hit at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites. Can you tell us what the cost of damage done to U.S. facilities is because of this war?</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
      <p>Well, I think Jay covered pretty clearly what we can or cannot share, but I would simply respond that — and I think it's an important point considering what the president is undertaking — is what is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. And the fact that this president's been willing to make a historic and courageous choice to confront that, it comes with costs, and we recognize that.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>I understand what your judgement is, and we have a judgement as well. I'm asking if you can tell us, and at what point you can tell us, what the cost of damage done to U.S. facilities is because of this war?</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Comptroller Hurst</span>
      <p>Yes ma'am, thanks for the question. So for future posture in the Middle East, we don't know what that's going to look like, we don't know how we're going to design these bases —</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>The damage to date, you do not have any cost estimate on it at all?</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Comptroller Hurst</span>
      <p>For the military construction, I do not have a cost estimate to provide you at this time.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>Well, when will we get that?</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Comptroller Hurst</span>
      <p>Again, it depends on what the future posture is, how we decide to construct those bases —</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>To date, to date. You know what has happened to date. We can't get that number and that is a real concern to us — our job is to appropriate dollars, and we're just told "it's coming, it's coming" and we don't get it, so it's very hard to do our budgets.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>And right now, Mr. Secretary, people are paying four, five, even six, seven dollars for gas — and American taxpayers are now on the hook as well for paying for this disastrous war. You're spending families' hard-earned tax dollars on a war that many strongly oppose. And you're forcing people to pay more at the pump — and yet you're not even providing a real breakdown for the cost of this war so far.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>Let me turn and say, Secretary Hegseth, the president has called Medicaid, Medicare, and child care "little scams" and said, quote, "we're fighting wars, we cannot take care of daycare." Is it your position, since you're asking taxpayers for another half trillion dollars for the war, that American families should be forced to give up child care and health coverage so that you can have $1.5 trillion for this budget?</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
      <p>Senator, that's not my department. I certainly support this and I also support the president's efforts to find and remove fraud wherever possible.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>I'm not talking about fraud. I actually asked whether an American family should lose their health care or their child care to pay for this budget. That is literally what the president suggested.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
      <p>The president has proposed a historic $1.5 trillion budget that will defend the nation and confront threats like Iran, which previous presidents allowed to happen, as Senator Graham pointed out. Previous administrations said they wanted to take care of this problem and they did not.</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sen. Murray</span>
      <p>You want to increase the war budget for next year by half a trillion dollars. That is taxpayer money that could be used to feed families, or build new affordable homes, or wipe out some diseases completely, or increase child care investments twenty times over. But you are asking us to blow it all on war. [&hellip;] Let me quote you someone you might actually listen to: President Eisenhower. He said: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."</p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
      <p>I meet every family at Dover, okay? Don't tell me we don't care about families. We sure do and we take care of them in every way we possibly can.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <h2>Murray's Claims — Fact-Checked</h2>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"The war in Iran has cost 13 American servicemember lives."</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>Confirmed. As of the April 8 ceasefire, CENTCOM reported 13 U.S. troops killed and more than 365 wounded in Operation Epic Fury. Five were classified as seriously wounded; 330 returned to duty.<sup><a href="#s4">[4]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"Trump's war with Iran cost $29 billion so far… that cost estimate is suspiciously low."</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>The Pentagon's own Acting Comptroller Hurst confirmed the $29 billion figure at the hearing.<sup><a href="#s2">[2]</a></sup> But the figure is almost certainly an undercount. The comptroller admitted it excludes the cost of damage to U.S. facilities. CBS News reported estimates closer to $50 billion, and one independent analysis valued the war's cost through 60 days at $71.8 billion — including $41.2 billion in munitions, $15.8 billion in operations, $11.9 billion in damaged/destroyed assets, and $2.9 billion in war-related arms transfers to Israel.<sup><a href="#s5">[5]</a></sup> Taxpayers for Common Sense called the Pentagon's figures incomplete: "If the numbers being thrown around in committee hearings were complete, why would the Pentagon continue withholding a comprehensive, itemized cost assessment from Congress?"<sup><a href="#s6">[6]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"That's what it would have cost actually to save the ACA tax credits."</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>The Congressional Budget Office estimated renewing the enhanced ACA premium tax credits would cost approximately $29–31 billion per year.<sup><a href="#s7">[7]</a></sup> These credits expired at the end of 2025, causing premiums to more than double on average for marketplace enrollees — from $888/year to $1,904/year. The Urban Institute estimates 4.8 million more Americans became uninsured as a result.<sup><a href="#s7">[7]</a></sup> Murray's comparison is mathematically sound: the war has cost at least as much as one year of health subsidies for 24 million Americans.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"Iran has hit at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites."</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>This comes directly from a Washington Post investigation published May 6, 2026, which used satellite imagery to identify 228 damaged or destroyed items — 217 structures and 11 pieces of equipment — across 15 U.S. military sites in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Damage includes Patriot and THAAD missile defense systems, an E-3 Sentry command-and-control aircraft, barracks, hangars, fuel depots, and satellite communications sites. More than half the damage occurred at Naval Support Activity Bahrain and three bases in Kuwait.<sup><a href="#s8">[8]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"People are paying four, five, even six, seven dollars for gas."</p>
    <span>Mostly True</span>
    <div>
      <p>The national average as of late May was $4.39–$4.55 per gallon, up 47% since the war began.<sup><a href="#s9">[9]</a></sup> Diesel reached $5.52/gallon. Murray's "$4, $5" range is the national average. The "$6, $7" range applies to high-cost states like California and Hawaii where prices regularly exceed the national average, and some localized peaks. She's not wrong that Americans are seeing those prices, but framing "$6–7" as widespread overstates it — that's regional, not national.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"A war that American people overwhelmingly oppose."</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>Multiple independent polls confirm majority opposition: Pew Research found majorities say the strikes were the wrong decision; CNN found 59% disapprove; Ipsos found 58% disapprove vs. 38% approve; YouGov found 53% oppose. There is a stark partisan divide — about 70% of Republicans support the war while roughly 90% of Democrats oppose it — but the overall public opposes it.<sup><a href="#s10">[10]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"The president has called Medicaid, Medicare, and child care 'little scams' and said 'we're fighting wars, we cannot take care of daycare.'"</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>In April 2026, Trump stated: "It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare — all these individual things… all these little scams." He argued the federal government should focus on "military protection" and leave health and child care programs to the states. The White House claimed the "scams" remark referred to fraud in these programs, but the full quote makes clear he was characterizing the programs themselves.<sup><a href="#s11">[11]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>"You want to increase the war budget for next year by half a trillion dollars."</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>FY2026 enacted defense spending was approximately $1.05 trillion. The FY2027 request is $1.5 trillion — a $441 billion (44%) increase, which Murray rounded to "half a trillion." The rounding is within normal rhetorical bounds. CSIS confirmed this is the highest single-year request since World War II.<sup><a href="#s1">[1]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sen. Murray</span>
    <p>Eisenhower quote: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched…"</p>
    <span>True</span>
    <div>
      <p>Murray quoted accurately from Eisenhower's "Chance for Peace" speech, delivered April 16, 1953, to the American Society of Newspaper Editors — also known as the "Cross of Iron" speech. The quote is verified by the American Presidency Project at UC Santa Barbara.<sup><a href="#s12">[12]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <h2>Hegseth's Claims — Fact-Checked</h2>

  <div>
    <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
    <p>"What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon? This president has been willing to make a historic and courageous choice to confront that."</p>
    <span>Missing Context</span>
    <div>
      <p>Hegseth frames the war as preventing nuclear proliferation, implying Iran was on the brink. What he omits: Iran was further from a nuclear weapon under the JCPOA (2015–2018) than at any point before or since. Under the deal, Iran dismantled centrifuges, shipped out enriched uranium, and submitted to inspections. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions. Iran subsequently accelerated enrichment, limited inspector access, and stockpiled approximately 440 kg of highly enriched uranium.<sup><a href="#s13">[13]</a></sup> The nuclear threat Hegseth cites as justification was substantially worsened by the same administration now fighting the war. "What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?" is a valid question — but it was largely an academic one before 2018.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
    <p>"Previous presidents allowed [Iran's nuclear threat] to happen."</p>
    <span>Misleading</span>
    <div>
      <p>Hegseth implies predecessors ignored the Iran threat. In fact, the Obama administration spent years negotiating the JCPOA, which was implemented in January 2016 and, by all IAEA assessments, was constraining Iran's nuclear program. President Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, calling it "defective at its core," and reimposed sanctions. Iran responded by restarting and accelerating enrichment.<sup><a href="#s13">[13]</a></sup> Even the Biden administration attempted to renegotiate. The "previous presidents" most responsible for the current Iran nuclear posture include Trump himself during his first term. Blaming predecessors without acknowledging the role of the 2018 withdrawal is misleading.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
    <p>"The president has proposed a historic $1.5 trillion budget that will defend the nation."</p>
    <span>Mostly True</span>
    <div>
      <p>The $1.5 trillion figure and "historic" label are accurate — it is the largest defense budget request since WWII. Whether it "defends the nation" is subjective. However, $350 billion of the request depends on reconciliation, which CSIS analysts describe as a "long shot" given intra-party disagreements. The base discretionary request alone ($1.15 trillion) needs 60 Senate votes for passage and faces significant Democratic opposition.<sup><a href="#s14">[14]</a></sup> Budget analysts at Taxpayers for Common Sense called the $1.5 trillion a "negotiating tactic" designed to make $1.15 trillion seem reasonable by comparison.<sup><a href="#s6">[6]</a></sup></p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
    <p>"That's not my department." (on whether families should lose health care to pay for the defense budget)</p>
    <span>Deflection</span>
    <div>
      <p>Technically accurate — HHS handles Medicaid and child care programs. But Murray's question was about the trade-off inherent in any budget: when you request $1.5 trillion for defense, the money comes from somewhere. As Defense Secretary requesting those funds, Hegseth is the person asking Congress to make that trade-off. Framing it as "not my department" sidesteps the central budgetary question the Appropriations Committee exists to resolve. Every dollar appropriated for one purpose is unavailable for another — that is literally what this hearing was about.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div>
    <span>Sec. Hegseth</span>
    <p>"I meet every family at Dover. Don't tell me we don't care about families."</p>
    <span>Emotional Deflection</span>
    <div>
      <p>Murray was not questioning whether Hegseth cares about Gold Star families — she was asking about the budgetary impact on all American families who pay taxes and use domestic programs. Meeting families of fallen servicemembers is commendable but doesn't address whether $1.5 trillion in defense spending at the expense of health care, child care, and food assistance is the right trade-off for the 130 million American households footing the bill.</p>
    </div>
  </div>

  <h2>The Real Cost to American Families</h2>

  <p>Beyond the hearing's rhetoric, here's what the Iran war is actually costing ordinary Americans, based on independent data:</p>

  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>Cost Category</th>
        <th>Amount</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>Pentagon's official war cost (as of May 12)</td>
        <td>$29 billion</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Independent war cost estimate (through 60 days)</td>
        <td>$50–72 billion</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Additional household energy costs since Feb. 28 (avg.)</td>
        <td>$447 per household</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Consumer energy cost burden (cumulative, all households)</td>
        <td>~$60 billion</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Projected 1-year household energy cost if prices hold</td>
        <td>~$2,000 per household</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Gas price increase since war began</td>
        <td>+47%</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Airline fare increase (April YoY)</td>
        <td>+20%</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
    <tfoot>
      <tr>
        <td>Projected long-term cost (Harvard estimate, incl. veterans benefits &amp; debt interest)</td>
        <td>$1+ trillion</td>
      </tr>
    </tfoot>
  </table>

  <p>According to Moody's Analytics, the $447 per-household energy hit has already erased the $384 benefit most families received from the administration's "Big Beautiful Bill" tax cuts.<sup><a href="#s9">[9]</a></sup> The personal savings rate fell to 2.6% in April — one of the lowest readings since the global financial crisis — as consumers drain savings and lean on credit to cover rising costs.</p>

  <p>Harvard public policy professor Linda Bilmes, who calculated the long-term cost of the Iraq War at $3 trillion, projects the Iran war will ultimately cost taxpayers over $1 trillion when factoring in veterans' benefits, equipment replacement, and interest on the debt used to finance the war.<sup><a href="#s15">[15]</a></sup></p>

  <h2>The Budget Trade-Off: What $1.5 Trillion Buys — and What It Doesn't</h2>

  <p>Murray's core argument is one of opportunity cost. Here's how the numbers stack up:</p>

  <div>
    <div>
      <span>$1.5T</span>
      <span>FY2027 Defense Request</span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>$29B</span>
      <span>ACA Subsidies (1 year)</span>
    </div>
  </div>

  <p>Here's what the $29 billion already spent on the Iran war alone — setting aside the broader $1.5 trillion budget — could have funded instead:<sup><a href="#s16">[16]</a></sup></p>

  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>Alternative Use</th>
        <th>Cost</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>ACA enhanced premium tax credits (1 year, 24 million enrollees)</td>
        <td>~$29B</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>WIC nutrition program (5 years)</td>
        <td>$25B</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>K-12 education funding restored (cut under current admin)</td>
        <td>$12B</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Child care subsidies restored (frozen in 5 states)</td>
        <td>$10B</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Clean energy grants restored (canceled in 16 states)</td>
        <td>$8B</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Housing assistance for 170,000 formerly homeless</td>
        <td>~$5B</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>

  <p>The broader FY2027 budget context is equally stark. The administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill" cut Medicaid by $1 trillion over 10 years (stripping coverage from an estimated 11 million Americans) and slashed SNAP food assistance by $187 billion — the largest cut to food stamps in history.<sup><a href="#s16">[16]</a></sup> Meanwhile, the defense budget request represents a 44% increase over the prior year.</p>

  <p>Gabe Murphy of Taxpayers for Common Sense put it bluntly: "If they can't defend the nation with a trillion dollars, they're doing it wrong."<sup><a href="#s6">[6]</a></sup></p>

  <h2>The Nuclear Context Hegseth Omitted</h2>

  <p>Hegseth's strongest argument — and the administration's primary justification for the war — is that it prevents Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. This claim requires historical context he did not provide:</p>

  <h3>The JCPOA Timeline</h3>

  <table>
    <thead>
      <tr>
        <th>Date</th>
        <th>Event</th>
      </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td>July 2015</td>
        <td>JCPOA signed by U.S., Iran, UK, France, Germany, Russia, China. Iran agrees to dismantle centrifuges, reduce enriched uranium stockpile, accept IAEA inspections.</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Jan 2016</td>
        <td>IAEA confirms Iran has met its commitments. Deal implemented; sanctions lifted.</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>May 2018</td>
        <td><strong>Trump withdraws U.S. from JCPOA</strong>, calling it "defective at its core." Reimposed sanctions in Aug and Nov 2018.</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>2019–2024</td>
        <td>Iran accelerates enrichment, limits IAEA access, stockpiles ~440 kg highly enriched uranium. Breakout time shrinks from 12+ months to weeks.</td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Feb 28, 2026</td>
        <td>U.S. launches military operations against Iran (Operation Epic Fury).</td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>

  <p>The irony is difficult to overstate: the nuclear threat used to justify a $29+ billion war was substantially the result of the same president's first-term decision to withdraw from the agreement constraining Iran's nuclear program. Every IAEA assessment through 2018 confirmed Iran was in compliance with the JCPOA. After the withdrawal, Iran's enrichment accelerated — and its breakout time collapsed from over a year to potentially weeks.<sup><a href="#s13">[13]</a></sup></p>

  <p>This doesn't necessarily mean the war is unjustified — the nuclear threat, whatever its origin, is real. But Hegseth's framing that "previous presidents allowed this to happen" omits that the most consequential policy change was Trump's own.</p>

  <h3>Congressional Authorization</h3>

  <p>Notably, Congress has not authorized the current military operations in Iran. Multiple members of both parties have raised legal questions about the war's authorization under the War Powers Act. Murray called it a "war of choice" — a characterization that, regardless of one's policy views, reflects the fact that the U.S. initiated strikes, not the other way around.<sup><a href="#s17">[17]</a></sup></p>

  <h2>Bottom Line</h2>

  <div>
    <h3>Verdict Scorecard</h3>

    <div>Senator Murray</div>

    <div>
      <span>13 servicemembers killed</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>$29B war cost is "suspiciously low"</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>$29B = cost of ACA tax credits</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>228 structures hit at US sites</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Gas prices $4–7 per gallon</span>
      <span><span>Mostly True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Americans "overwhelmingly oppose" war</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Trump called programs "little scams"</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Budget increase = ~half a trillion</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>Eisenhower quote</span>
      <span><span>True</span></span>
    </div>

    <div>Secretary Hegseth</div>

    <div>
      <span>"Cost of Iran getting a nuclear weapon" justification</span>
      <span><span>Missing Context</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>"Previous presidents allowed" it</span>
      <span><span>Misleading</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>"Historic $1.5T budget to defend the nation"</span>
      <span><span>Mostly True</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>"Not my department" on health/child care cuts</span>
      <span><span>Deflection</span></span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span>"I meet every family at Dover"</span>
      <span><span>Emotional Deflection</span></span>
    </div>
  </div>

  <p><strong>Murray's claims are overwhelmingly supported by the data.</strong> Eight of her nine factual assertions check out as True; one (gas prices at "$6–7") is regionally accurate but overstates the national picture, earning a Mostly True. Her core argument — that the Pentagon cannot account for the full cost of the war, yet is asking for the largest defense budget in history at the expense of domestic programs — is factually grounded.</p>

  <p><strong>Hegseth's responses are largely evasive or misleading.</strong> His strongest point — that a nuclear Iran poses an existential threat — is valid on its face but undercut by the administration's own role in accelerating Iran's nuclear program via the 2018 JCPOA withdrawal. His deflections ("not my department," "I meet every family at Dover") avoid the budgetary substance of Murray's questions entirely.</p>

  <p>The bottom line for American families: the Iran war has already cost each household roughly $447 in direct energy expenses, on top of at least $220 per household in direct military costs (using the Pentagon's own lowball $29 billion figure). If the war continues and prices hold, Moody's projects a $2,000 per-household hit by the one-year mark. And the $1.5 trillion FY2027 defense request — a 44% increase — would consume resources that could otherwise fund health care, child care, education, and housing programs the same administration has cut.</p>

  <blockquote>
    <p>"Taxpayers deserve answers, and lawmakers need them in order to craft a responsible budget."</p>
    <cite>— Gabe Murphy, Taxpayers for Common Sense</cite>
  </blockquote>