You have to stare down this kind of enemy who's hell-bent on getting a nuclear weapon

and get them to a point where they're at the table giving it up in a way that...

So they haven't...

So they haven't broken yet.

Well, their nuclear facilities have been obliterated.

Underground, they're buried and we're watching them 24-7.

So we know where any nuclear material might be, we're watching.

We're watching.

That was Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegset, in a tense exchange with Senator Adam Smith,

the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a hearing on Thursday

where Hexeth sought to justify a 40 percent increase for the new fiscal year defense budget, bringing the total to $1.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, today marks the 60th day since the start of the U.S. war in Iran.

According to the war powers resolution of 1973, the president must now seek congressional approval to continue military operations in the war on Iran,

a war whose price tag stands at $25 billion with no clear objective or end in sight.

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Friday, May 1st, 2026.

Joining me now to discuss the ongoing war in the Pentagon's new budget request is USA Today, Congressional reporter Zach Shermaley.

It's good to speak with you, Zach. Thank you so much for coming on from The Hill.

Thanks for

having me. During testimony this week by Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth and General Dan

Kane, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before the House Armed Services Committee,

we learned the cost of the war to date, $25 billion. Did HECSeth say how much more the Pentagon needed to finish the war in Iran?

The Secretary was very clear that the Pentagon is going to need Congress's help in order to

...