From PBS NewsHour.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday President Donald Trump has tasked his department with rebuilding the nation’s munitions supply, which he says was depleted by U.S. support for Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion.

Hegseth said Trump has told the Defense Department to double, triple or quadruple the number of munitions to “rebuild the arsenal of freedom.”

“The president has charged us with not just replacing anything but filling it up, as he might say, to the tippy top, [to] make sure that the remainder of this term and future presidents have all the munitions they need for any level of contingencies,” Hegseth told Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget request to  increase defense spending to $1.5 trillion – the largest proposed amount in decades.

On Wednesday, the defense leaders appeared before House lawmakers, who questioned the defense leaders for the first time since the start of the war on Iran. Hegseth sparred with Democrats on the costs of the war and its ripple effects on Americans and the economy.

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