Skeptical Democrats confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Wednesday for the first time since the Trump administration went to war with Iran, touching off tense exchanges over a costly conflict with unclear objectives that has been waged without congressional approval.
The hearing before the House Armed Services Committee was focused on the administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, stressed the need for more drones, missile defense systems and warships.
Democrats quickly pivoted to the ballooning costs of the war, the huge drawdown of critical U.S. munitions and the bombing of a school that killed children. Some lawmakers also questioned Trump’s dealings with allies and President Donald Trump’s shifting justification for the conflict.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with a faith-based pregnancy center that raised First Amendment concerns about an investigation into whether it misled people to discourage abortions.
The high court’s unanimous ruling is a procedural victory for First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, which is challenging a New Jersey investigation of its practices.
The conservative-majority court has given abortion opponents high-profile wins in recent years, most notably the watershed case that overturned the nationwide right to abortion in 2022. First Choice, though, had also drawn support from the American Civil Liberties Union, which supports abortion rights but backed the group’s First Amendment concerns.
Backers of raw milk are pushing to make the potentially dangerous product more widely available and easier to obtain, even as outbreaks have sickened people across the nation.
More than three dozen bills supporting raw milk have been introduced in statehouses, The Associated Press found. A growing number of states are making it legal to sell.
Top government officials and internet influencers are helping drive this momentum.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downed shots of raw milk at the White House last May and previously promised to halt “aggressive suppression” of the product. On social media, posts about raw milk have surged in recent months, often touting unproven claims about its health benefits.
Milla Mirkovic can be reached at mirk1654@stthomas.edu.
