A relatively subdued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changed tactics and talked over a Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday morning as the two argued over Pentagon expenditures with the Donald Trump appointee snapping when one of his claims was called “ridiculous.”
Hegseth faced off with Rep. Joe Morelle (R-NY) who asked, “There has been much reported about the president's trip to China and I appreciate again my colleagues raised PACOM [United States Indo-Pacific Command] and its defense. There are weapons on hold the president has not authorized to Taiwan and I wonder if you can give me an update, what’s the status of those weapons sales are at this point?”
“I just want to say the primes will be paying for the factories out of their own pocket, not the taxpayers' money which is a sea change, which I think this budget —," Hegseth began.
“They are going to get a return on their investment,” Morelle interrupted as Hegseth protested with the New York Democrat continuing, “Yes, I understand, but they are not paying for it out of their pocket and not getting compensated. But anyway, can you answer my question about Taiwan?”
“Buildings cost money, and if giving them $2 billion to build a factory, that is taxpayer money. If they are using it out of their own hide, that is $2 billion saved for the American people that then we can appropriate to our munitions we pay for in the future” Hegseth argued before complaining, “I know it is difficult to grasp…”
“It’s not difficult to grasp! It is a different way of getting to the same place,” the Democratic lawmaker replied. “You end up paying for it — look, we ought to, they are building things for us, but to suggest that they are making an investment and will not somehow get compensated through sales is just honestly ridiculous.”
“We used to pay for the building too and then pay for the sales,” Hegseth shot back as Morelle looked down and shook his head. “Now we are paying for the sales and not the building which is, I think, is a good—.”
“And they are not embedding that in the tax write-off in the things they are selling to us, the capitalization, CAPEX they are putting into it they will get back? I don't know why we are arguing about it,” Morelle asked.
“They are paying for it,” Hegseth replied.