Wednesday, July 22, 2026. Pete Hegseth goes begging to Congress for
more money, Todd Blanche doesn't want to pay the court ordered fines,
the Iran War continues with no end in sight, and much more.
Senator
Patty Murray: 143 days ago, President Trump started a war of his own
choosing with Iran. He did not consult Congress. He did not get
authorization from Congress. He did not build a coalition of allies.
He did not make a case to the American people. Nor did he ever win their
support. Two-thirds of Americans oppose the war. And the president's
decision had catastrophic costs. Seventeen American servicemembers have
now died. That includes three who tragically lost their lives over the
last few days. And another is still missing. Several hundred more have
been injured -- including nearly 100 who have been hurt in just the
last few weeks. We owe all of them and their families a debt of
gratitude we can never repay. Thousands of civilians have also been
killed. The administration will not tell the public -- or Congress --
the true
financial costs of the war but we know it is very well into the tens of
billions of dollars. Tax dollars we could've spent helping people
afford health
care-- or building new housing -- have now been lit on fire by a
president
who blundered us into a disastrous war. And the costs to families' bank
accounts are staggering. Economic growth has slowed to a crawl.
Inflation has shot up about 50% since this war began. On average, gas
cost just under three dollars on February
28. Today, it’s over four dollars and ticking back up with the Strait
closed again. Americans have now paid more than $70 billion more on gas
since the war began. That is $550 more per household. Fertilizer costs
skyrocketed in the middle of spring planting,
crushing farmers operating on extremely thin margins, and costing
families more on just about everything they buy at the grocery store.
The costs of this war have been astronomical. And what has it been for?
What has actually been achieved? We hear a different rationale for this
war every few days. It was
about preempting 'imminent threats,' which we now know did not exist. It
was about regime change, then liberating the Iranian people. It was
about destroying Iran's nuclear program and its navy. And at one point,
it was about taking out its ballistic missiles until, that is, the
president decided that actually ‘it’s a little bit unfair for them not
to have some.’ Trump has even suggested the war is about taking Iran's
oil to "make a fortune." And now, the United States' primary strategic
objective
seems to actually just be reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which, of
course, was fully open -- toll-free --before the war began.
That's
Senator Patty Murray speaking at yesterday afternoon's Senate
Appropriations Committee that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Gen
John D. Caine, Chair of the Joint-Chiefs, testified before as they
sought more money for Chump's war of choice.
Chump started
this war with lies, told the American people about it in a early morning
broadcast -- of a pre-taped speech. From the get-go, Chump and his
cronies have repeatedly lied. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand confronted
Hegseth on the administration's inability to speak honestly and
truthfully.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:
Secretary Hegseth, the reason why people
are so upset, the reason why they are so upset with you and this
administration is because the words you have used in the past don't add
up. About Iran specifically: you said that we had "obliterated,"
quote-unquote, Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons. The president
made the same claim. Yet eight months later, in February of 2026, the
president launched an active war, claiming Iran was within two weeks of
having a weapon. So when you say two very different things, the American
people don't know who to believe or what to believe. They just know
they can't afford their healthcare, they can't afford their food, they
can't afford housing, and our farmers are continuing to suffer. So,
which is true? Was it obliterated, or wasn't it? What;s the status?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: The nuclear sites under Midnight Hammer
were obliterated. But the Iranians foolishly continued to attempt to
pursue nuclear capabilities, which is why we destroyed their defense
industrial base and so many of their other capabilities, to ensure they
can't get to a nuclear weapon. So we're staying laser-focused on the
objective, and you're trying to make campaign commercials. And that's
fine.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: No we're not. So listen to this: You
also say that you made the missile program, quote, "destroyed and made
combat ineffective." Quote, "Iran's entire ballistic missile production
capacity, every company that builds every component of those missiles,
has been functionally defeated -- destroyed," and that the missile
program's "existing stockpiles depleted and decimated, almost
completely ineffective." So why are there missiles left to hit Jordan
and result in the loss of life of our brave men and women?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: As we stated from the beginning, the
Iranian defense industrial base is effectively gone. But they do have
underground facilities, because they're the world's leading state
sponsor of terrorism, and they've spent 47 years trying to hide their
missiles under mountains, just like their nuclear capabilities, because
they would like to get a nuclear weapon to wield it against us.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: We just don't know what version of the
war to believe. Because it's either over or it's not over, it's within
two weeks or it's not two weeks, we have no missiles or we have
missiles. And that consternation is why so many New Yorkers are
perplexed, stressed out, and find this war to be incredibly unpopular.
Because they don't understand the choices that the president's making,
they don't agree with those choices.
Senator
Patty Murray -- who is the co-chair of the Committee -- also noted the
differences between what Hegsteh and Chump claim from one moment to the
next. But let's instead focus on her noting the monies.
Co-Chair
Patty Murray: Secretary Hegseth, your department received
$150 billion last year in the Republicans' "Big Beautiful Bill." And it
also received a record $839 billion for fiscal year 2026 -- more money
than you asked for last year. Combined, that is a $1 trillion budget for
the year -- and as I already mentioned, your department has yet to
spend
half of the reconciliation funds. Despite that, you are here today
asking for tens of billions of
dollars more for things that you've already asked for in your FY27
request or that have nothing to do with Iran. This administration has
tried to sell this as an emergency request,
but it may be better understood as an attempt to skirt the normal
appropriations process. Here are just a few of the things requested in
this "Iran" supplemental: $800 million for the National Guard to patrol
DC even
longer. Over $1 billion for the Army to patrol the southern border,
which is DHS's job. $900 million to support the administration's illegal
boat strikes in the Caribbean. Over $18 billion for munitions, which
you have already requested in your FY27 budget request. And $1.7 billion
to pay for your decision to recruit more people than the services need,
which was not contemplated by the FY26 funding bill Congress recently
passed. Now, you have already submitted a reprogramming request on this
that our subcommittee is considering now, which really underscores the
point I made in my opening remarks that the problem is not a lack of
money, but poor planning. So, I'll be blunt: the truth is your request
does not make a lot of sense. So, let me ask you a simple question: Why
exactly are billions of
dollars more for the National Guard and this administration's illegal
strikes in the Caribbean urgently needed for the Iran war?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: Well, Senator, I wouldn't -- of course -- agree
with your characterization, but why this kind of spending is needed is
because of the gross negligence and neglect of the Biden administration
inside our department. [Biden] ran it like a bureaucracy, abandoned our
strength posture around the world, so we're having to reestablish
deterrence. You mentioned the end strength numbers, and I will acknowledge that
we are ahead of schedule on end strength in recruiting, 8,000 in the
Navy, 6,000 in the Army, 4,000 in the Air Force. Because under President
Trump, there's been record and historic over 30-year recruiting records
inside our department since he won the election. Because the American
people didn't want to sign up for what Joe Biden was providing our
military, and they want to sign up for what President Trump is doing in
his leadership, and so those are good problems to have that we need to
fund, and a reflection of momentum. And this budget will allow us to
continue the kind of momentum that gets us ahead.
Co-Chair Patty Murray: My point is that a lot of this request does not feel like an emergency.
Senator Chris Murphy found that if you repeatedly asked the same question, you would finally get an answer from Hegseth.
Senator Chris Murphy: Thank you all for being here today, Secretary Hegseth.
The American people either didn't want this war or were deeply skeptical
of this war because they have seen this country make the same mistake
over and over again in wars in the Middle East, and that is to create
either unrealistic or open-ended objectives. You said in March that the
United States was "on plan to defeat, destroy, and disable all of Iran's
meaningful military capabilities at a pace that the world has never
seen before." Obviously, as we've discussed here today, that objective
has not been achieved and is not going to be achieved. Iran is adept,
more adept than even at the start of the war, at hiding their
capabilities or repairing after damage we have done. There's an open
report that when it comes to their missile sites along the Strait of
Hormuz, 30 of 33 are still operational.
Secretary Pete Hegseth: I wouldn't believe all the open reports, Senator.
Senator Chris Murphy: But I've also heard you say in this hearing
that the
objectives now seem to be more limited than they were at the outset of
the war. That this is about reopening the Strait and this is about
dismantling nuclear capability. And the president, of course,
has said himself that he thinks Iran has a right to a missile program.
So, my question is pretty simple: Is it correct that it is no
longer a war objective to destroy all of their military capacities? This
is what the president has said. Have our goals been simplified to
reopening the Strait and to getting into a negotiation over a nuclear
program. Now, I don't think you have a realistic plan to do either of
those things, but I think it's important for us to know what we're
funding. Are the objectives much more limited today than they were when
you made that statement in March?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: So, I think the objectives have been consistent and
clear from the beginning. And I would compare it to North Korea, where a
conventional buildup was used to hide a nuclear capability that
eventually evolved to a point where it couldn't be contested. And what
Iran continued to do, even after Midnight Hammer, was try to build that
conventional capability to dare anyone to stop them from pursuing
nuclear weapons. So, getting after their conventional capabilities, missile
launchers, defense industrial base, their navy was all part of it.
Ensuring they can't blackmail us into pursuing a nuclear capability,
laser-focused on Iran will never have a nuclear capability – that's the
promise the president has made, and that he will keep.
Senator Chris Murphy: Is it still a war objective, either through military
action or through a diplomatic agreement to destroy and disable all of
Iran's meaningful military capacities, including their missile program?
Secretary Pete Hegseth: As far as all: when we talked about that from the podium
at the outset of this, we were talking about their defense industrial
base. And if you look at the metrics of their ability to make more, that
it's been overwhelmingly destroyed. Not everything, but overwhelmingly.
Now, do they have missiles in underground bunkers because they're a
terror state? Sure, they do, and we've acknowledged that from the
beginning. But their capacity is less today than it's ever been…
Senator Chris Murphy: They obviously, they obviously have significant capacity
to effectively disrupt the entirety of the Middle East and oil flows out
of the Middle East, and that's not going to change.
As Senator Tammy Baldwin noted to Hegseth:
This supplemental request is another example of this Administration's
backwards priorities. Instead of spending tens of billions of dollars
more for the President's war in Iran, we should be meeting the needs of
American families. We could invest this money to accelerate new cures and treatments for
cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Or we could use it to help more families
with rising home energy costs. We could use this funding to help more
families afford quality childcare. We could use this funding to help
more kids get free school lunch. We could use this funding to restore
healthcare for working families. We could use this funding to support
our public schools and special education. This was a misguided war of
choice, and every dollar spent on this war is a dollar not spent helping
families afford housing, health care, childcare or groceries at home.
Hegseth sputtered and lied throughout the hearing about the war that no one ever needed.
AP notes:
The
U.S. and Iran are back to bombing every day in a bid to control the
Strait of Hormuz. And neither is backing down, showing the limitations
of President Donald Trump’s reliance on escalating airstrikes to bend
Tehran to his will. While the Trump administration says it is open to
diplomacy, Iran so far has refused to loosen its grip over the crucial
oil shipping corridor in the Persian Gulf. It is raising questions about
the strategy for the conflict's next phase. The intensifying attacks
have collapsed an interim ceasefire deal, killed more American troops
and sent U.S. gasoline prices back up, posing more problems for
Republicans hoping to get reelected.
Let's get something straight for Chump and for the media -- stop using "soldiers." Chump posted "
Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over."
The 18 dead include Cmdr Gabriel Edwards who was not a "soldier" but a
sailor since he was in the Navy and the 18 dead include Maj John A.
Klinner, Sgt Ashley B. Pruitt and Capt Ariana G. Savino
who were not "soldiers" but airmen since they were in the Air Force.
Marines are not soldiers, they are Marines. Stop using the term
"soldiers" for all members of the US military. You can use "troops" and
you can use "service members" but "soldiers" is not an all inclusive
term.
The war in Iran has entered a bleak new phase.
After
weeks of fragile peace and stalled negotiations, the weekend deaths of
multiple U.S. service members — coupled with new reporting showing there
may be more previously undisclosed injuries — have left White House
allies afraid the president is rapidly running out of ways to extricate
the U.S. from an unpopular, expensive conflict ahead of the midterms.
“This
is what a quagmire looks like,” said one person close to the White
House, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The
Pentagon faces an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the war in
Iran, with some critical lines of funding set to run out within weeks
even as President Donald Trump escalates the conflict with Tehran,
according to lawmakers and current and former U.S. officials.
The
funding crunch is already leading the Pentagon to limit training and
maintenance that help maintain military readiness, according to four
current and former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to
candidly describe the budget constraints.
The
White House has asked Congress for an immediate infusion of $67 billion
to help cover the costs of the war, but lawmakers are gridlocked over
how to proceed. The House plans to leave Washington on Thursday for a
month-long recess, leaving any deal on military funding weeks away at
the earliest.
When
Hegseth testified before the House panel on defense spending in April,
committee leaders urged him to provide information on the war’s costs as
soon as possible. The Pentagon later missed the panel’s deadline and
has since failed to share requested details for weeks, including the
number of precision weapons the military has in its inventories after
burning through thousands of munitions in Iran, according to lawmakers
and congressional aides.
“We need to know what
we’re purchasing and why we’re purchasing it,” Rep. Betty McCollum of
Minnesota, the top Democrat on the panel, said in an interview.
In
private, Pentagon officials have expressed far greater anxiety,
according to current and former officials, arguing that the military
desperately needs more money to restock munitions needed to deter U.S.
adversaries like Russia and China.
During
a segment on reports that there are more military casualties in the war
than have been publicly announced by the Pentagon, Lemire said all the
bad news out of Iran is weighing on the president — and there is no way
he will take the blame.
“Secretary Hegseth, you
know, he still, I am told, is liked by the president,“ Lemire told
co-host Joe Scarborough before adding, “He does not have that many fans
in the administration otherwise, that's been the case from the very
beginning, from even the transition when he wasn't very truthful with
the vetting teams about some of the issues in his past.
“But
at least, right now, Trump is still on board. But I am told that if
this continues to bog down, whether it's a low-level conflict or a
high-intensity resumption of war for months, Trump will eventually look
for a fall guy, and it's hard to imagine it being anyone other than Pete
Hegseth.”
It
sounds plausible to say that America has seen Pete Hegseth in a T-shirt
and shorts more than any prior Secretary of Defense, but his technique
in those workout videos he loves posting would get a flunking grade,
according to several military fitness experts interviewed by The
Atlantic.
One
recent video Hegseth posted showed him and Health and Human Services
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoting what they called “The Pete and Bobby Challenge,” which consists of trying to do at least 50 pull-ups and 100 push-ups in under ten minutes.
Video
clips of Hegseth and Kennedy went viral, with many commentators mocking
Kennedy’s habit of working out in jeans and dissing the whole thing as
cringy and awkward.
Hegseth’s form is so bad,
multiple military fitness experts said he “fails on form” the service’s
tests based on his videos, according to a report by The Atlantic’s Tom
Bartlett headlined “Pete Hegseth, You Call That a Pull-Up?”
Bartlett
noted that Hegseth and the agency he oversees are the ones recording,
editing, posting, and heavily promoting these videos (which he mockingly
refers to as “Boot Camp Pete” episodes), and he’s the one who declared
strict and harsh judgment was the way to go on military fitness issues.
The publication also got feedback on the Pete & Bobby Challenge from Maureen LeBoeuf, a retired brigadier general.
The
first and only woman to head the physical education department at West
Point said nothing Hegseth did in the video would have counted had she
been grading him.
“His pull-ups or chin-ups and the
kicking that he does—you would never allow that. You’d stop somebody;
you’d say, ‘OK, you’re done,’” she said. “He just keeps kicking, and
it’s not a good look.”
Factoring in possible
exhaustion, LeBoeuf pointed out the irony of fatigue and cutting corners
from someone who is “real big on standards.”
Juan
Jairo Coronilla Durán, a 28-year-old Mexican national from San Luis de
la Paz, Guanajuato, who died during an immigration enforcement operation
by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in St. Augustine, Florida,
on July 14, 2026, had a valid tourist visa. A close associate of the
family revealed that he had entered the country three weeks ago for a
vacation.
The incident occurred
when ICE agents encountered Coronilla Durán and three other men during
an operation at a gas station near State Road 16 in St. Augustine,
Florida. Durán attempted to flee on foot and tried to cross State Road
16, where he was struck by an eastbound tractor-trailer. He later died
of his injuries at the scene.
Isaret
Jeffers, who is part of an organization supporting Durán’s wife, said
he had proper documentation to be in the U.S. Durán had allegedly
entered the United States three weeks ago for vacation and had been in
Florida for two days. “He was going to return this past Saturday. He had
already bought a flight ticket,” Jeffers said in a conversation with
the Tampa Bay Times. “Now, unfortunately, if he is returning, his return is different.”
Days after ICE agents fatally shot two motorists
in Houston and Biddeford, Maine, another encounter involving federal
immigration agents has left residents in a South Texas town shaken.
On
Tuesday, July 14, Samantha Alarcón took to Facebook to share her
experience during an ICE operation in Laguna Vista, which is about 10
miles from South Padre Island. Her post quickly gained traction, drawing
more than 3,000 shares and 2,000 comments, as she described federal
agents wearing face coverings apprehending a young man on a residential
street. Agents later released the 18-year-old after determining he was a
U.S. citizen.
Alarcón said
she was nearly "run off the road" as multiple unmarked vehicles pursued
an SUV across narrow, curbless residential streets where the speed limit
is 20 mph. Alarcón was with her son when the unmarked vehicles drove
past her "with no lights, no logos, and masked men inside." Alarcón told
MySA she was forced to veer into the grass as the vehicles sped over
speed humps.
In Alarcón's photos, body-worn cameras can be seen on both federal agents and local police officers.
The
teen remained in the back seat after the driver and another passenger
fled from a vehicle stopped in the driveway of a home. Alarcón alleged
in the Facebook post that federal immigration agents entered a
neighbor's yard, drew their weapons and pointed a gun at the teen.
Alarcón
said she yelled for agents to let the teen go. She wrote in her post,
"I screamed at the top of my lungs that he was just a high school kid."
Ultimately, the agents did, allegedly asking Alarcón to give him a ride
home.
"The drive home broke
my heart. This poor young man was sitting in my truck crying in pure,
unadulterated fear while talking to his mom on the phone," Alarcón said.
A
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer from El Paso, Texas,
appeared in federal court after he was indicted and arrested for charges
related to alleged false reporting of an excessive use of force.
Court
documents reveal while CBP officer Jesus Espinosa, 52, was acting as a
federal law enforcement officer in August 2021, he allegedly used
excessive force to detain a person, including using a chokehold that led
to the detainee being injured.
Ex-DNC
vice chair David Hogg torched the top campaign arm of the Democratic
Party as being “evil” and picking “terrible candidates.”
Hogg
reignited his feud with the Democratic establishment this past weekend
at the College Democrats of America convention in Washington, D.C.
During his remarks, be blasted party leadership for its choice of
candidates and declared the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
was inherently “evil.”
“We’re an organization —
imagine if there was a non-evil version of the [DCCC] that existed,”
Hogg said. “No offense. Like, we need their funding in general
elections, but man, they really know how to pick terrible candidates
sometimes. But it’s fine. They usually lose.”
The
Hogglette couldn't stop crying suuu-eee, suuu-eee. If he had been able
to, he might have been able to have spoken the truth and apologized.
For what? His new group is Leaders We Deserve and they're supposed to
back young progressives. I don't know that 41 is all that young but
they did back a 41 year old this year. And it was the most infamous
'Democrat.' It's the one that resigned in disgrace after credible
reports of sexual assault, after Nazi tattoos and so very much more.
Yes, that's right,
David endorsed Graham Platner.
He was one of 9 people running for the state or national legislature
that David endorsed. What did David say again? Oh, that's right, he
said, "
As our party charts a path forward, Graham Platner represents not the entire solution, but a vital step in the right direction"
The right direction? Hogg, Platner resigned in disgrace. The right
direction, you said. Imainge if there was a non-evil version of David
Hogg that existed. Imagine that.
Turning to Chump's now-dead
pal Jeffrey Epstein. For years, decades, the two were thick as
thieves. At least two meetings took place at the White House in the
Situation Room that Chump wasn't present for but in which underlings
like then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, head of the FBI Ka$h
Patel and others plotted and schemed on how to handle a release of the
Epstein files in a manner that would cause the least harm to Donald
Chump. That's a conspiracy and everyone in that room should be made to
answer for why they were present and how they reconcile their actions in
those two meetings with their oaths to the Constitution.
Emails
from Jeffrey Epstein to world leaders indicate he should have
registered as a foreign agent, House Judiciary Democrats argue,
including messages showing he sought to capitalize on his relationship
to President Trump.
In a letter to top Trump
administration officials, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the
communications from the deceased sex offender that have been publicly
released show significant conversations that raise “serious questions
about the extent to which he wielded his ties to President Trump in
dealings with foreign governments.”
Epstein has long come under fire for his significant foreign ties
and has been trailed by conspiracy theories he was a spy, accusations
Vice President Vance referenced last week in telling podcaster Joe Rogan
that the financier surely must have had connections to American and
Israeli intelligence at the highest levels. The letter from
Raskin makes no such claim but argues that even if unpaid, the work
performed by Epstein would have required registration under the Foreign
Agents Registration Act (FARA), as required of all who lobby on behalf
of foreign governments.
“We find
substantial evidence that Mr. Epstein acted to advance the interests of
the governments of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait; advised the government of
Russia on how to shape its dealings with President Trump; worked as an
ongoing consultant for Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of the
government of Israel; and repeatedly capitalized on his long-term
friendship with President Donald Trump to sign up business from these
and other foreign governments and actors in the aftermath of President
Trump’s first election, without ever registering as a foreign agent,”
Raskin wrote.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) seethed in a Tuesday letter
to Dershowitz that he was attempting to “hide from this Committee’s
investigation” into the powerful late pedophile, including of his
potential government connections — despite having said he had “nothing
to hide” and that he could share relevant details at the scheduled July
20 sit-down.
“The Committee will not tolerate
any further delay,” Comer fumed. “Accordingly, we reiterate our request
that you testify at an in-person, videotaped transcribed interview on
September 2, 2026.
In
other news, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche did not release all of
The Epstein Files. Journalist Katie Phang brought a suit against him
over this. The court sided with Katie but Blanche is refusing to do as
instructed.
MORNING HONEY explains:
Acting
Attorney General Todd Blanche asked a federal judge on Monday to avoid a
$1,000-a-day fine, describing a contempt action against him as
"absurd."
Blanche is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by independent journalist Katie Phang.
She
claims he violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires
the Justice Department to release files on convicted sex offender
Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G.
Sullivan supported Phang in June. He found that Blanche never challenged
her main claims in court: that he missed the law’s deadline, made
improper redactions, and withheld documents he was required to provide.
Sullivan
ordered Blanche to produce handwritten FBI notes from agents who
interviewed a woman accusing President Donald Trump of sexually
assaulting her as a minor.
He
also ordered emails to Epstein without redacted sender names and
documents naming potential co-conspirators. Phang asked the judge to
impose a $1,000-a-day fine until Blanche complied.
In
his reply brief on Monday, Blanche called Phang's filings filled with
"hyperbolic rhetoric seeking to impose punitive sanctions" and
"outlandish claims."
He referred to her contempt argument as "absurd" and her factual claims as "sensational and unsubstantiated."
Phang’s
ongoing lawsuit is yet another headache for Blanche, whose scheme to
secure a permanent promotion to attorney general has not exactly been
smooth sailing. After days of tense confirmation hearings in the Senate,
an uncomfortable meeting with Epstein survivors, and hundreds of
Blanche’s former colleagues opposing his nomination, $1,000 a day just
might drive him over the edge.
Katie Phang responds in the video below.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth
Warren (D-Mass.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.), along with Representatives
Becca Balint (D-Vt.) and Ben Cline (R-Va.), filed a bipartisan,
bicameral resolution directing the FTC to investigate serial
acquisitions of firetruck manufacturers.
Following two decades of consolidation by
private equity firms and larger manufacturers, a vast majority of the
fire truck manufacturing industry is now controlled by just three
companies. Since then:
- Prices have skyrocketed. Fire truck prices have doubled over the last decade, far outpacing inflation for heavy-duty truck manufacturing over that time period. Manufacturers have also exploited their market power to implement “floating” prices, increasing the final price of a fire truck after it goes into production.
- Manufacturing plants have shuttered. Dominant fire truck manufacturers have restricted supply by closing their own manufacturing facilities, even though demand for fire trucks has increased in recent years.
- Delivery backlogs are growing. Since 2019, the lead times for fire truck delivery have nearly tripled, and fire departments are now facing delivery delays of up to five years.
- Working conditions are unsafe. Higher prices and
longer delivery times for fire trucks have prevented fire departments
from replacing aging trucks, depriving fire fighters of the essential
equipment required to work safely and effectively.
Rampant consolidation in the fire truck manufacturing industry is
undermining public safety, squeezing fire departments’ budgets, and
forcing taxpayers to bear the consequences.
The Federal Trade Commission Act authorizes
Congress, through a joint resolution passed by the Senate and House of
Representatives, to direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to
investigate and report the facts relating to any alleged violations of
antitrust law. However, Congress has not used this authority to order an
FTC investigation since the Great Depression era.
This bipartisan joint resolution would revive that authority and direct the FTC to report to Congress within one year on:
- The extent of anticompetitive practices and violations of antitrust
law in the fire truck manufacturing industry, including price fixing,
price gouging, serial acquisitions, and monopolization;
- The monetary and other harms of anticompetitive practices and
violations of antitrust law in the fire truck manufacturing industry on
fire fighters, fire departments, states, municipalities, and small
businesses; and
- Recommendations for legislation or other remedial actions.
“When giant corporations and Wall Street investors buy up all the
fire truck manufacturers, it’s a threat to public safety,” said Senator
Warren.
“There’s a growing, bipartisan consensus that Congress must stop a
handful of corporations from dominating fire truck manufacturing and
making it harder and tremendously more expensive to get fire trucks.”
“Anticompetitive practices are strong-arming our cities, wasting
taxpayer dollars, and leaving firefighters without life-saving
equipment. I’m proud to join this bipartisan investigation as we fight
to put hardworking Indiana taxpayers first,” said Senator Banks.
“Too often, growing delivery backlogs in the fire truck manufacturing
industry are leaving fire departments across the Commonwealth and our
Nation without the necessary equipment first responders need to do their
jobs safely and effectively. This bipartisan resolution takes an
important first step to restore competition, strengthen domestic
manufacturing, and ensure taxpayers and local fire departments receive
fair value,” said Representative Cline.
“Every community deserves to have the fire trucks it needs to keep
people safe. But corporate consolidation has driven up prices
considerably and left communities waiting years for this essential,
lifesaving equipment,” said Representative Balint.
“This is yet another example of why we need strong antitrust
enforcement: a handful of powerful companies shouldn’t be able to use
their power to get richer by making it harder for communities to protect
themselves.”
This follows a bipartisan investigation led by Senators Warren and
Banks into the harms of private equity roll-ups of fire truck
manufacturers that they launched in April 2025.
Senator Warren also sounded the alarm on private equity’s
consolidation of the fire truck manufacturing industry at a September
2025 hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Management, District of Columbia, and Census.
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the
American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) have endorsed the resolution.
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