Overview
- Patel, testifying Tuesday to a Senate budget panel, denied reports he drank to excess or was unreachable and argued with Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
- After Van Hollen proposed an Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Patel accepted a side-by-side AUDIT screening, a World Health Organization questionnaire.
- Patel accused Van Hollen of 'slinging margaritas' in El Salvador and of a $7,000 bar tab, claims the senator said were false and his staff said reflected a campaign catering bill.
- Democrats pressed him on firings of counterintelligence staff, his Olympics trip and any probes of reporters, and Patel said the FBI is not targeting journalists as the bureau denied a criminal case against The Atlantic’s reporter.
- He also defended a $12.5 billion 2027 budget request by citing more arrests and lower violent crime, while pursuing a $250 million defamation suit that The Atlantic says it will fight.