Shaheen Presses Hegseth, Senior Pentagon Officials on Ukraine Funding and Relaxing Sanctions on Russia Amid War in Iran

**Shaheen questioned why the U.S. is not ramping up pressure on Russia as they aid Iran and financially benefit from the conflict** (Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a top member of the Armed Services and Appropriations Committees , today questioned U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and Department of Defense Comptroller Jules Hurst in a Senate hearing examining the Pentagon’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request. Shaheen again pressed the senior Pentagon officials for clear details regarding how the DoD plans to spend $400 million in Congressionally appropriated funds that were specifically allocated for Ukraine. Hurst told Shaheen they expect to see the final spend plan this week and intend to share with Congress once available. Amid reports that Iran is receiving intelligence support from Russia to target U.S. service members, Shaheen also questioned Hegseth why the U.S. is loosening sanctions on Russia—underscoring how Russia continues to financially benefit from the conflict. Click HERE to watch Senator Shaheen’s remarks and questions. Key quotes from Senator Shaheen: Pressing for details on Ukraine funding, Shaheen asked: “Since your testimony two weeks ago, Secretary Hegseth, before the Armed Services Committee, the Department has sent over your legal review for use of security assistance money for Ukraine. However, as was determined earlier in the testimony, funding still has not gone out the door. And I didn’t hear you give a date when this Committee or the Armed Services Committee can expect to hear or receive a spend plan for those dollars. General Caine, the day of the testimony, got back to us, as he said he would, and explained he had coordinated on the spend plan on April 13th—so that's been almost a month, and we still haven’t gotten anything. So, when are we going to see the spend plan for Ukraine?” Questioning why the U.S. isn’t doing more to pressure Russia, Shaheen asked: “Secretary Hegseth, a number of members of Congress have expressed our concern that Iran is receiving intelligence support from Russia to target our service members even as we loosen sanctions on the Kremlin. Russia is making $4 billion from oil sanctions relief because we’ve loosened those sanctions, as has been testified to, an Iranian Shahed drone costs about $35,000. That’s enough money for hundreds of thousands of drones supporting Russia's war in Ukraine and billions for Iran to reconstitute its industrial base. So, if one of the goals that’s been outlined by the President as part of this war is to destroy Iran's defense industrial base, don't you think we ought to be putting more pressure on Russia and putting those sanctions back on those Russian oil ships so that they are not continuing to fund Iran in this war?” Noting the shifting rhetoric and objectives coming from the White House, Shaheen concluded: “If Iran still has almost 50% of their missile capacity and the ability to pull drones out of caves and still injure our allies and U.S. service members, then we have not won the war.” ###