Good evening. I'm Jeff Bennett.

And I'm Amna Nawaz on the news hour tonight.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces congressional scrutiny over how much the war with Iran is costing Americans

in the form of government spending and higher gas prices.

President Trump departs for China with the meeting between leaders of the world's two largest

economy could mean for businesses.

And Louisiana Republicans rushed to redraw congressional districts after the Supreme Court

wiped out key provisions in the Voting Rights Act.

It does bring back that feeling from a long time ago, and it's not a good feeling.

Thank you.

Welcome to the News Hour.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified in back-to-back Capitol Hill hearings today, where he faced bipartisan frustration about the Iran war and its rising costs.

With neither the Americans nor the Iranians softening their demands, the president left today for a high-stakes visit to Iran's chief ally. That's

China. Mr. Trump will land in Beijing no closer to our resolution in the war he started and

with a ceasefire dangling on what he said yesterday was massive life support. Our Stephanie

Sye starts our coverage. Defense subcommittee will come to order.

Amid a diplomatic deadlock with Iran. On Capitol Hill today, defense secretary Pete Hegeseth didn't get specific about which direction the war might be headed next.

We have a plan to escalate if necessary. We have a plan to retrograde if necessary. We have a plan to shift assets.

Hagseth said the ceasefire President Trump yesterday called unbelievably weak was nonetheless still in

effect. Even though military action is paused, the war's costs are mounting. That was a focus in a pair of congressional

hearings today. The Pentagon's top budget officials said the estimated price tag of the conflict

had gone up substantially in less than two weeks, from $25 billion. So now we think it's closer to

...