Congressional Democrats are now openly signaling that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth must be removed after the November 3 midterms before they will cooperate on emergency defense funding and the regular appropriations bills needed to keep the Pentagon operating. The demand could treat the future of a sitting cabinet secretary as a bargaining chip in post-election negotiations, an approach with little recent precedent for a military-related funding fight.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, told The Hill that Hegseth’s departure would “help lower the partisan temperature” on the National Defense Authorization Act and annual defense appropriations. Kaine’s comments mark the first time a senior Democrat has openly stated that his party is prepared to hold must-pass national security legislation hostage in exchange for the removal of Hegseth, who has successfully transformed the military according to typical benchmarks of achievement.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said that if Democrats win the majority, “one of the first things we’re gonna do” is “run Pete Hegseth out of town.” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) has also called impeaching him one of the caucus’s “top three priorities. Under Hegseth, recruiting has reached record levels. Brent Sadler, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and retired Navy captain, has described the shift as a return to the military’s core mission, noting that effectiveness “always hinges on the threat of lethality” and that “the more that we try to water that down, we get away from the real mission of the military.
That shift has produced open friction with Democrats, which has led to liberal groups and some Democrat lawmakers backing lawsuits challenging the Pentagon’s reinstatement of traditional physical standards for combat roles, arguing that the changes effectively exclude women from combat. Senate Democrats have tied the dispute to broader complaints about personnel and promotions. Adding to tension, House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro and Defense Subcommittee Ranking Member Betty McCollum sent Hegseth a letter demanding a 30-day investigation into reported Trump administration restrictions on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite communications, which they said could be seen as militarily assisting Russia amid rising civilian casualties. Hegseth publicly rejected the claims, stating “nothing’s changed from our view,” and that any issues fell under Starlink’s terms of service rather than Pentagon orders.
Reporter: You said the U.S. policy on Ukraine hasn’t changed. Does that include Starshield coverage? Hegseth: We haven’t pulled anything back. There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied with, and that’s where Starlink has the option to make those decisions. But nothing’s changed from our view. We haven’t made any directives or anything like that.
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 20, 2026
By threatening to block the emergency defense funding and regular Pentagon appropriations that expire December 11 unless Hegseth is removed, Democrats are prepared to put resources that support service members in the field at risk in pursuit of a partisan demand. The bills cover ongoing operations, munitions replenishment, and readiness accounts. Failure to pass them would risk funding shortfalls for active missions, delay equipment maintenance, and further strain stocks already drawn down by operations in the Middle East.