Hegseth testifying on Pentagon budget

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with other defense officials, testified before the House Armed Service Committee about the Pentagon budget for 2027. They're asking Congress for $1.5 trillion. So CBS News Congressional Taurean Small joining us from Capitol Hill live right now. Taurean, walk us through what we've heard so far. Yeah, so this is a big justification as for why the Trump administration is asking for that large price tag for defense spending. Like you said, this is a huge amount more than any other budget request, and this was something that certainly raised the eyebrows of several lawmakers even across the aisle. Susan Collins of Maine said that this is exactly what it is, a request, but it's ultimately Congress who holds the purse. So it's likely we'll see him make the case, not just here in the House but over in the Senate, as to why the justifications for this price tag. But I think one of the most notable things to come out of this hearing so far was the back-and-forth we've seen between him and Democratic lawmakers, like this one with the congressman from Pennsylvania got quite heated. Juliette, take a listen. That we took every effort possible at the commencement of this campaign to ensure the defense of our troops, to include moving them off of known bases to places that were not known, and we had intel--

Understood, Secretary. --and then those were fortified with bunkers and other fortifications with theater air defenses. Was our concern that something could get through?

I'm going to pause you there. I'm going to give a chance-- Absolutely.

I'm going to give you a chance. You're disparaging me that I don't care about the passing--

I'm asking you whether you think they're liars or not. That's what I asked you. You are disparaging me that I don't care about the passing of our troops.

No, I asked if you thought they're liars, Secretary. That's disparaging and smearing in every way. Nobody cares more about the fate of our troops. Nobody cares about the health of our troops.

Mr. Secretary. Nobody wants to bring them all home more than I do.

I understand, but he controls the time. He controls the time. You get to control your answer. The through line for Democrats questionings have been around the war in Iran as of this moment, and it's something that the administration has been especially defensive about. I also have to point out that this hearing has been quite instructive, as this is the first time we're hearing the actual price tag for the war with Iran. Top officials there put it at around $20 billion, something that did not sit well with quite a few Democrats on the panel.

Yeah, that was quite an exchange there. Let's talk about what's happening today. Secret Service Director Sean Curran is briefing the House Oversight Committee about the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. What information, what new information, is the committee getting or hoping to get? Yeah, they're looking to see how this exactly happened. While, fortunately, the Secret Service was able to intervene before the gunman reached the ballroom, it did leave a lot of lawmakers, especially Republican lawmakers, to parrot the words of the president, calling for this event to be moved to the White House ballroom that is under construction, even though it wouldn't necessarily have fit the capacity. But earlier in the week, my colleague, Nikole Killion, pressed the Secret Service head, Curran, as you mentioned, earlier about whether or not this was a successful operation among Secret Service members. He defended it, saying that this was exactly how it should have gone as to apprehending the suspect there. But the lingering concern that we're hearing from lawmakers is about whether or not the agency is adequately funded. It's under the umbrella of Department of Human Health and Security-- sorry, it's under DHS, so Homeland Security. So they're asking whether or not this lapse in funding contributed at all to the response. We'll see whether or not they'll get an answer once we get a readout from lawmakers from this closed-door briefing. But that is a concern. The Trump administration has also put out calling on Congress to pass that funding sooner than later. As of now, it's in the House Republicans hands as they're waiting for a budget reconciliation package to move from the Senate to their chamber before they send it to the president's desk. Taurean Small. Taurean, thank you.