Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to appear April 29 before the House Armed Services Committee in his first on-camera questioning since the Iran war began.
- Although billed as a budget hearing, members say they will press him in a public, sworn setting on the administration’s military strategy.
- The date remains tentative and could change, according to reports based on sources familiar with the planning.
- Pressure for an open session grew after a classified briefing that lawmakers said yielded few answers, as Chair Mike Rogers called briefers “very constrained” and all 27 Democrats demanded public testimony.
- The monthlong conflict, including joint U.S.-Israeli strikes, has lifted gas prices and raised concerns over costs and troop risks, adding urgency to Congress’s push for clearer plans.