'Standoff' as GOP Senate leader slams Trump Pentagon’s 'strategic error'

Pentagon funding is now at risk as Republican senators want to end the war with Iran.

Last week, the Senate held another vote telling President Donald Trump to end the war with Iran. Now it appears that lawmakers may go further than that and slash Pentagon funding.

Semafor reported on Monday that Republicans aren't likely to support the secretary of defense in his demand for $1.5 trillion. Referring to it as an "eye-popping sum," the report said that Pete Hegseth's relationship with Congress is growing sour. It comes from both the war and from Hegseth's firing of top military officials, creating a dangerous brain drain in the U.S. military.

One Trump administration official cautioned that the failures at the top of the Pentagon could even end up putting soldiers in the middle.

“This could turn into a real standoff with the military caught in the middle,” the official said. “The implications: There won’t be money available to pay recruitment bonuses, money to upgrade military housing and repair military housing won’t be there, money to fix ships and aircraft from the war won’t be there, and money to restockpile munitions won’t be there.”

"And the longer this drags out, the more dangerous it becomes, because we’re really depleted after the Iran war,” the official added.

To put it in context, the military allocated $849.8 billion in 2025. The Department of Defense came back and asked for $88 billion more to fund the Iran war. So, Hegseth wants almost double what was needed in 2025. Worse, the Pentagon isn't doing anything to campaign for the funds, one Republican senator said.

Hegseth, who has never served in government in any capacity, may not fully understand that asking for the funds doesn't mean he'll get it, even if the Senate remains in Republican hands after Nov. 3.

“There are a lot of people [who] are really upset with the war in Iran and how it’s being played out. We feel it’s hurting our chances in the elections in the fall, and it seems rather haphazard,” said the senator.

“We don’t like what we’re seeing when it comes to the pulling of officers off of the promotion lists,” this senator added. “We don’t like what we see with … indiscriminate firings of admirals and generals across the force.”

The administration official said that Trump still gives Hegseth his 100 percent support, and suspects it is the people under him who are the problem.

“The president still is very much in Pete’s corner, but beneath him, there are very serious concerns,” the official said. “Are they going to be able to get any additional money through? Are they going to be able to get any nominees confirmed?”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is leaving at the end of the year, but despite supporting the nomination in 2025, Tillis said that Hegseth doesn't understand that politics comes down to relationships.

"And I don’t think he’s built strong enough relationships,” Tillis said.

“Why is anybody going to blindly appropriate anything to him?” the senator asked.

Far-right Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) echoed the same sentiment, noting "friction" between Hegseth and lawmakers.

"The genesis of that friction is different, depending upon the senator," said Kennedy.

Trump loyalist Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in an interview that the whole problem is one of Trump's own making. If he expects to get support from Democrats, he'll have to talk to them. Hegseth is in the same boat.

His lack of engagement with Democrats “continues to be a strategic error” for Hegseth, Cramer said. Of all things, it's the lack of bipartisanship that bothers the right-leaning legislator.

“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,” Cramer said.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she has "concerns" over another reconciliation bill. It's a budget bill that blocks anyone from staging a filibuster, requiring a 60-vote supermajority to pass budget funding. Thus far it's been one of few options for the GOP-led House and Senate.

“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,” Collins said. “The number of women and Black people that had been struck from the list was awful.”

She also said he isn't very respectful to lawmakers.