U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
The U.S. Senate is threatening to freeze three-quarters of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget unless it gets what it wants.
Politico reported on Wednesday that the requirement is built into the defense policy bill in the Senate Armed Services Committee and would withhold a whopping 75 percent of Hegseth's funds if he doesn't turn over the documents that it has requested about the school bombed in Iran and the boat blown up in the Caribbean.
It's a significant escalation in the demands from lawmakers since 2025, when Republicans were happy to sign off on whatever President Donald Trump requested, but put a 25 percent hold on the travel budget.
"The renewed provisions suggest lawmakers still haven’t gotten the information they want," reported Politico. "It also signals continued bipartisan dissatisfaction with the Pentagon ignoring or slow-walking responses to congressional inquiries. The provisions are part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act approved last week by the Republican-led panel. Senate Armed Services leaders filed the bill on Tuesday."
According to lawmakers who spoke with Politico, the Pentagon leadership rarely speaks to them, and Trump rarely keeps them abreast of details about what his team is trying to accomplish on Capitol Hill.
"The latest Senate bid to jam the Pentagon faces a long road to becoming law. Competing legislation approved by the House Armed Services Committee doesn’t include similar language. The funding freeze must survive negotiations between the two chambers over the next few months," said the report.
The Pentagon has hit over 200 boats in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea since Trump's efforts in September 2025. An elementary school in Iran was also hit by the U.S. About 150 people were killed, most of whom were children.
"In all, the panel linked Hegseth’s travel funds to more than a half-dozen requests for information. Senators are also demanding more information on three American air strikes against suspected Houthi military sites in April 2025 and an unspecified investigation by U.S. Special Operations Command in January," said Politico.
Democrats don't support the bill in its current form because they say the president has "no restraint."