Key Senate chairman hopes to soon have first public oversight hearings on war with Iran
By Ted Barrett
(CNN) — Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker is planning soon to hold the first public oversight hearing of the Iran war with top US Department of Defense officials testifying, CNN has learned.
Details on when and who will appear have not yet been finalized.
Asked if he expects Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine to appear, Wicker told CNN, “I can’t give you that information yet, but I hope to have public hearings with top officials from the department.”
“This would be oversight, yes,” of the war itself, he explained. “We will conduct oversight.”
Wicker twice said, “I hope” it will be in public session, making clear there has not been a final decision made on that point.
As the war with Iran nears the two-week mark, President Donald Trump has continued to make conflicting comments about when it might end. And to date, the GOP-led Congress has not held any open oversight hearings of the conflict, although there have been several classified sessions for members.
Top Hill Democrats have demanded public hearings in recent days – and GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined the chorus of calls from across the aisle on Wednesday.
Murkowski also warned that an emergency funding package for the war effort — expected to cost tens of billions of dollars — would have a hard time passing Congress without a public justification from the administration and hearings on Capitol Hill.
“Absolutely we should have hearings,” said Murkowski, a senior appropriator. “I think the public should demand to know what the expectations are in terms of the path forward.”
She continued: “And so yes, we have a role as Congress. … If you haven’t built the case as to why we need to be doing more, it may be a challenge to get the support that you need. I want to make sure that the men and women who are in harm’s way have what they need, but I need to understand that.”
Earlier in the week, a group of Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to President Donald Trump calling for hearings with administration officials.
“Public hearings featuring cabinet-level witnesses have been a standard part of congressional oversight throughout our history, including recent military conflicts, as well as during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. After all, our founders were clear about the role of Congress in matters of war as the representatives of the American people,” the Democratic senators wrote.
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CNN’s Alison Main and Jack Clifton contributed to this report.
