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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. It is an absolute disgrace that Pete Hegseth has withheld casualty numbers in the Iran war from the American public. One of the biggest questions Pete Hegseth has to answer today is why he was out marketing testosterone supplements for our troops last week while withholding casualty numbers from the Iran war to the American people.
We learned yesterday that the Pentagon failed to disclose that our troops have sustained nearly 100 injuries in the past few weeks of the Iran war.
Sending our troops in harm's way is the most serious thing we can do as a nation, but Hegseth, Trump, and Rubio certainly don't treat it that way.
Hegseth is hiding more than he is sharing these days--whether it is the number of wounded, the damage to our bases overseas, or the immense ballooning cost of this Iran war blunder.
We need answers, but Hegseth wants to give some to the GOP alone. Hegseth is reportedly attending a House Republican meeting today to brief their Members on the war without providing Democrats the same access.
There is no room for this administration's partisan pettiness when our servicemembers' lives are at stake. But that seems to be a trademark for both Hegseth and Trump.
I am calling on Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump to tell the entire Congress everything they are telling the Republicans about the Iran war--both Chambers, both parties.
Everything they tell Republicans behind closed doors needs to be shared in public during today's testimony. But I don't need to hear from Hegseth to know just how poorly this war is going.
If we truly care about our servicemembers' well-being, we ought to be focused on getting them out of harm's way, not on their testosterone levels. We will be forcing another vote this week on our War Powers Resolution to bring our troops home and end this war.
Senate Republicans, don't let Trump off the hook. The Iran war isn't a game. It is not some trifle Trump, Hegseth, and Rubio can brush under the rug. Trump's reckless war is an absolute catastrophe. It must end, and Republicans should join us in making sure that happens. So far, crickets from them.
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