At the House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) questioned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
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00:00I recognize as a gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Bill.
00:04Mr. Secretary, unlike my colleague down the dais, I don't feel sorry for you.
00:12I visited with soldiers in war zones whose life is on the line, so a few tough questions.
00:20I think you'll be okay.
00:21And so my first question is, are you authorized to disclose intelligence that will put our troops in harm's way to our enemies?
00:33Well, I reject the premise of the question.
00:35Just saying, as a hypothetical, are you authorized to do that?
00:38I have not and do not.
00:40Exactly, and I assume that.
00:41So when you told our ranking member that everything that you say is authorized, that wasn't completely accurate, correct?
00:48What I said is that every way that I communicate is authorized.
00:53No, you actually said everything that you said is authorized.
00:56I wrote it down.
00:57Now, with that said, and the reason I bring that up is because it's about accountability, and we're talking about this war ethos.
01:05The primary component of that is accountability, and I'm going to indulge me in a quick analogy.
01:13Republicans introduced a bill on the House floor a few days ago, a resolution standing against terror, racism, hate, anti-Semitism,
01:23which as an African, as an American, as a black man, I'm going to stand against those things six times a week, twice on Sunday.
01:32Now, the nefarious part was there was a line that was stuck at the end of that resolution that essentially gave a shout-out to law enforcement,
01:42which I do support, but also to ICE, which right now, a lot of Americans have a problem with the way ICE is being deployed,
01:50and I'm not happy with what they're doing, nor do I want to shout them out for that.
01:55And so accountability was, I didn't duck from the question.
02:00I went, and I talked to my constituents.
02:03I went on social media.
02:04I did interviews to explain exactly where I stood, that I stand against hate.
02:09I stand against racism.
02:10I stand against anti-Semitism, and I hate that that line was stuck in there.
02:14That's accountability.
02:16So when we're asking you these questions, and you're ducking, and you're not answering them directly,
02:20that's not a culture of a war, what was the term, a war ethos, a warrior ethos.
02:29I'm looking at members of our, who serve, and they're taking their lead from you.
02:37That starts with you.
02:38And if we have troops who are in war zones, and they're watching while they're risking their lives,
02:46and you can't just answer some tough questions, what kind of culture is that setting?
02:51So as a prosecutor, when I think about what's happening in California and around the country with ICE,
02:59it's not only dangerous and unconstitutional, but it raises serious public safety concerns
03:05because we have people with masks that are going around saying that they're ICE,
03:11and we've had reports of that saying that they're ICE and committing crimes.
03:15And that's a big problem.
03:17But it gets me back to the point of the accountability piece.
03:21So, for example, do you believe quality military housing is important?
03:25Yes or no?
03:26And just keep your mic on for time because I don't only have a minute left.
03:30Our budget commits to robust military housing and barracks up to the east.
03:34Do you believe military children deserve a strong education?
03:37Our budget funds strong education, and we hope more educational choices for military children.
03:44Love it.
03:44Is it a priority to provide real, reliable care to our veterans?
03:49Of course.
03:50So, Mr. Secretary, we have a problem here because your answers don't match your budget priorities.
03:57You said your mission is to restore this warrior ethos, and that threats we face are serious, but so must our investments.
04:05So, when we think of, for example, a $45 million parade, I can think of 45 million things we could do more effectively with $45 million than a parade,
04:16such as the things that I mentioned, military housing, military children's education, providing reliable care for our veterans.
04:27All of these things would be higher on the priority than a parade, and so the parade, and when we talk about showing strength, we're not talking about theater.
04:41We're not talking about showmanship.
04:43We're talking about things that actually make our military more lethal and keeps us safer.
04:51And so, what I'm saying is that, in my limited time left, is accountability does matter, and this body cares about what our military is doing
05:07because we care about national security, and we all take it very seriously.
05:12Gentlemen, it's expired.