From New York Times, I'm Michael Babarro.

This is the Daily.

In back-to-back hearings that ended on Thursday, Pete Heggseth went before Congress for the first time in a year to answer for a war in Iran that's reached a stalemate,

and a management style that has caused controversy after controversy at the Pentagon.

Today, my colleague, Eric Schmidt, takes us inside his testimony.

It's Friday, May 1st. Eric, always a pleasure. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you, Michael.

Let me start by asking, as a reporter who covers the military and the Pentagon and the war in Iran,

how were you thinking about this hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee as it was about to begin on Thursday morning?

What in your mind were the stakes of Pete Hegseff, the Defense Secretary, giving this testimony at this particular moment?

So the stakes really couldn't have been larger, Michael.

Once a year, the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff come up to Congress and testify.

Basically, they're asking for money.

They want to get their budget approved.

And this year's budget is a biggie.

It's almost $1.5 trillion.

Wow.

The largest budget request ever, some $500 million

more than this year's budget. And this is to do everything from replenish munition stockpiles,

to rebuild the Navy, to construct a new anti-missile system called Golden Dome. So this is all kind of part and parcel of this budget request.

But remember, it's been a year since he's had to testify before Congress,

and there's been so many things that have happened in that year.

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