Gillibrand Demands Accountability From Military Leaders On Cost Of Iran War, Minab School Bombing

Gillibrand Demands Accountability From Military Leaders On Cost Of Iran War, Minab School Bombing

Jul 14, 2026

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, demanded accountability from the Pentagon on President Trump's requested $350 billion in taxpayer dollars as a slush fund for his administration on top of the defense budget and $67.1 billion to pay for his reckless war in Iran. The funding requests follow Americans spending over $56 billion more on gas because of the war, with New Yorkers spending over $2.2 billion more to fill up their tanks.

"New Yorkers do not want to give billions more of their hard-earned dollars to fund President Trump's chaotic, illegal, and unnecessary war that he has no idea how to get out of, " said Senator Gillibrand. "They want their tax dollars to go to their healthcare, bringing down the cost of living, and making life easier for working families."

In addition, Gillibrand continued to demand answers from the military on the U.S.' bombing of an Iranian elementary school in February that reportedly killed approximately 120 children and at least 175 people in total. A day after she led 24 of her colleagues in calling for the Pentagon to release its long-awaited report on the bombing, she pressed for details on how the target was selected and how the bombing was executed.

Footage of Senator Gillibrand's questioning can be found here.

Transcripts of key moments can be found below:

ON SPENDING ADDITIONAL BILLIONS ON WAR WHEN AMERICANS NEED RELIEF AT HOME

Sen. Gillibrand: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Hurst, thank you for your service. You have an incredible career, and I want to thank you and your family for continuing to dedicate your time and talent to the defense of this country. It's a significant undertaking. You have a very important job as comptroller. Your job fundamentally is going to be about transparency and accountability, and one of the burdens, I think, of this job you're going to have right now is that the American people are very concerned about the lack of transparency and accountability when it comes to this war. From their perspective, it's an unauthorized, illegal, unwanted war. The amount of spending is astronomical. I think you've just recently given us the $67 billion number. If they had a choice, they'd rather $67 billion fund Medicaid and their health care. They'd rather have $67 billion fund-to get the cost of groceries down, to get the cost of fuel down. And with the constant problems in the Strait of Hormuz and the continuing and the escalating of this war, people are very distressed about the cost of fueling their cars, fueling their homes, the cost of diesel for truck drivers, and the cost it's having on everything because of that increase. So, transparency is something that we care very much about, and in your budget, it is not clear-especially for the supplemental-what is creating these enormous costs. You're asking for an additional $350 billion, which to New Yorkers is going to seem like a slush fund to them. So it's unclear: are these costs to pay for the destruction because of the war to our bases and operations abroad? Is this cost because of the increase in cost to our Navy ships because they were extended at sea? Are these costs because of wasteful domestic deployments of DoD personnel?

Honorable Jules W. Hurst III: Senator, again, thanks for the question. The $67 billion supplemental-I wasn't involved in the generation of that because I'm not in a position of comptroller. But let me say this: the department needs a generational investment. It's a defense, right? The Arleigh Burke class destroyer, the first one was commissioned in 1985, 40 years ago. It's still the mainstay of our surface fleet. The Air Force is planning to fly the KC-135 until potentially the 2070s. We have to update our platforms. We have to buy affordable mass. We have to procure autonomous warfare platforms and integrate them into the force.

ON THE FAILURE OF HEGSETH TO RELEASE MINAB REPORT

Sen. Gillibrand: I'm highly concerned about the bombing of a school in Iran, a girls' school. That bombing has been deeply upsetting to New Yorkers. 120 children were killed, and we still don't have a report on that. Again, transparency and accountability. It is essential that this department give this Congress the report of how that target was selected, why more recent data and information showing that it was clearly a girls' school and no longer part of the military base that was next door. Have you been given the report on how that targeting was made and whether AI systems were used?

Honorable Jules W. Hurst III: Senator, I have not seen that report. I regret the loss of any civilian life in any conflict.

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