Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told House lawmakers Tuesday that the ceasefire with Iran remains in effect despite recent exchanges of fire as he faces another round of bipartisan questioning over the costs and endgame of the war. He just finished testifying before the Senate, where one Democrat said he’s worried “you’ve achieved a series of tactical successes but are on the verge of a strategic loss.” Hegseth has so far softened his tone from previous congressional hearings as he defended the Trump administration’s historic $1.5 trillion military budget request for 2027. The Pentagon’s top budget official told Congress the cost of the war has climbed to nearly $29 billion, up $4 billion from the price he provided nearly two weeks ago. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is facing increasing pressure from the economic shocks of Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.
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Trump’s proposed ‘Golden Dome’ is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion for 20 years, far more than he initially said. A new Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday suggests a far heftier sum than the initial $175 billion price tag Trump gave last year for his plan to put weapons in space, called the ‘Golden Dome for America’ missile defense program. The system, inspired by Israel’s ‘Iron Dome,’ aims to detect and intercept missiles at all stages of an attack. Congress has already approved about $24 billion for the initiative. Trump ordered the system during his first week in office, expecting it to be operational before his term ends in January 2029.
With Makary’s departure from the FDA, the fate of many fledgling initiatives is uncertain. Most of the programs Makary introduced have not gone through federal rulemaking required to enshrine them in U.S. regulations and could easily be overturned by his successors. Democrats in Congress have questioned the legality of some of those efforts, including a program that offers drugmakers expedited reviews for innovative medicines.
Marty Makary is out as Trump’s Food and Drug Administration head. That’s according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak ahead of an official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday. Makary, a surgeon and health researcher, had drawn complaints from health industry executives, anti-abortion activists and other Trump allies. He came to the attention of Republican operatives as an outspoken critic of COVID-19 health measures during the pandemic when he appeared frequently on Fox News Channel. But at the FDA, Makary failed to win the staff’s confidence after mass layoffs, leadership changes and a series of controversies in which the agency’s scientific principles appeared to be overridden by political interests.
– By Matthew Perrone and Seung Min Kim
