U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who has opposed the U.S. war against Iran since its beginning in February, slammed President Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week for asking Congress for an additional $500 billion in Pentagon funding.
[NOTE: Hegseth testified this week at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the war in Iran has so far cost the U.S. $37.5 billion, which many critics believe vastly underestimates the price tag. Stephen Semler, co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute (SPRI), assessed the cost at $103 billion.]
As seen below on Bloomberg, Paul said of the Department of Defense budget and Hegseth: “We currently spend a trillion. He wants $1.5 T. That’s a $500B increase.”
Paul added: “No one in the history of the country has ever asked for this much money. This is more money than — you can’t even print that fast. It threatens our country. You know, the biggest threat we have right now is our debt. We are more in danger of devaluing our currency than Iran invading the United States.”
In his testimony, Hegseth contended that national security is at risk if his department doesn’t get the funding. Paul replied that anyone who makes that assessment “has mistaken the problem.”
Rand Paul slams Pete Hegseth for asking for $1.5 trillion.
“We currently spend a trillion. He wants $1.5 T. That’s $500B increase. The biggest threat we have right now is our debt. We are more in danger of devaluing our currency than Iran invading the United States.”
“The… pic.twitter.com/mzUFLcVjhC
— Reggie B. (@reggiebblue) July 22, 2026
The Senator reiterated: “The greatest threat to our national security is our debt. It is completely and utterly fiscally irresponsible for someone to ask for a 50% increase in the military.”
Paul also noted that the Trump administration did not ask for the approval of Congress to initiate the war in Iran (as President George W. Bush did for Afghanistan and Iraq), and yet they’re asking Congress to increase the military budget by 50 percent, while the federal government is “already $2 trillion short this year.” Paul said the request is “absolutely irresponsible.”
[NOTE: During the Senate hearing on Tuesday, Hegseth accused Democratic senators who questioned him over his war strategy and funding request of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”]