GOP fiscal hawks largely unmoved by Hegseth’s defense dollars pitch

The Trump administration is struggling to convince GOP lawmakers to back President Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget in addition to tens of billions of dollars to fund the Iran war. 

Both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were on Capitol Hill Wednesday to shore up support for the request, among other issues, with the Pentagon chief giving a classified briefing to dozens of House Republicans before meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Hegseth’s latest trip to the Capitol, one of several over the past month, underscores the administration’s uphill climb in convincing Republicans to approve massive defense spending requests at a time when there is little appetite for such legislation.

Trump has frequently pressed Congress to approve $350 billion in defense funding as part of a third reconciliation bill in addition to $1.15 trillion for the Pentagon’s base budget. 

The White House this week also asked Congress for nearly $88 billion, mostly to cover the Iran war. This includes backfilling highly sophisticated munitions whose stockpiles had been dwindling since before the conflict.

Republicans could in theory pass a new reconciliation bill on their own, if they can unify around one. It is not subject to a Senate filibuster.

But they would need Democrats to back a supplemental.

For now, several top GOP lawmakers are noncommittal on either, at a time when many of their constituents are struggling to make ends meet.

Lawmakers are “still having conversations about the math and whether it adds up,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a leader of the Freedom Caucus and a fiscal hawk, told reporters following the classified briefing.

Roy also questioned where tens of billions of dollars for an Iran supplemental would be pulled from, indicating his support would be contingent on dollar-for-dollar cuts........

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