Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is facing backlash for criticizing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for the Pentagon’s spending on luxury items, including food for the miliary, despite similar expenses under former Biden administration Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.

The top Senate Democrat said Hegseth’s spending in the final month of fiscal year 2025, $93.4 billion, which included millions of dollars on steak, seafood and furniture, could have instead been used to extend the Affordable Care Act.

Social media users panned Schumer online for the remarks, accusing him of cherry-picking a politically convenient area to care about spending, lambasting him for not supporting feeding high-quality meals to military members and citing similar defense spending during the Biden era. 

«Hegseth spent $93 billion in one month – roughly the cost of extending the ACA tax credits for THREE YEARS,» Schumer wrote. «But instead of lowering American’s healthcare costs, Hegseth used millions of taxpayer dollars on fruit baskets, Herman Miller recliners, ice cream machines, Alaskan King Crabs, and a Steinway & Sons grand piano.

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«A true grifter in every sense of the word.»

During the Biden administration, Austin’s spending nearly mirrored Hegseth’s. Food expenses across administrations went toward feeding members of the military, according to the nonprofit Open the Books, which conducted the spending analyses.

There is no record of Schumer scrutinizing Austin’s spending. Fox News Digital reached out to the senator’s office for comment on the matter.

Defense spending is historically modest compared to past decades, representing a small fraction of the United States’ gross domestic product at 3.7%. Its share of the GDP has decreased significantly since the 1950s, according to an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. 

Schumer’s grievance also comes as he leads Senate Democrats’ resistance to funding the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for about a month. Democrats have demanded changes to the department’s deportation policies, which are nonstarters for Republicans. Essential DHS components, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, remain operational at this stage, but some agencies, like the Transportation Security Administration, are facing pains as workers go unpaid.

Critics slammed Schumer over the comment on social media. 

Fox News analyst Guy Benson called Schumer «the leader of the ‘Learing Center’ fraud party,» in reference to a viral video about welfare fraud scandals in Minnesota, saying Schumer «finally [discovered] one spending line item he’s willing to cut.»

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, said Schumer «thinks it’s bad that U.S. troops get to eat steak & lobster during deployment» and that the Affordable Care Act is a «failed» plan that makes healthcare more expensive.

«Remember that Democrats would have you eating MREs,» another commenter posted, referring to military-issued «Meals Ready to Eat.»

«Chuck Schumer hates the troops,» Republican communicator Steve Guest wrote. 

A commentary writer for the conservative Washington Examiner said, «You said nothing in 2024.»

Another social media user told Schumer he «should’ve done the 30 seconds of research to find Lloyd Austin’s September 2024 expenditures before posting. Missed your outrage back then.»

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon Oct. 30, 2024, in Arlington, Va.  (Getty Images)

Hegseth’s spending in September 2025 was the highest the Pentagon has seen on grants and contracts since September 2008. Austin, however, held the record before that, spending $79.1 billion in September 2024.

The last month of the fiscal year has long been notorious for spending that appears lavish as agencies face pressure to «use it or lose it» so that they can justify keeping their budget for the next year. Contract and grant payment schedules also include September due dates, which can contribute to the spending uptick.

In 2024 under Austin, according to an audit by Open the Books, «the military spent $103.7 million on meat, fish and poultry in September, partially because it ordered raw lobster tail 147 times for $6.1 million. It also dropped $16.6 million on ribeye steak, $6.4 million on salmon and $407,000 on Alaskan king crab.»

War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s expenses for September 2025 came under scrutiny in 2026.  (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

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Similar to Austin, Hegseth spent $6.9 million on lobster tail, Open the Books found. Austin spent about $1.5 million more than Hegseth on ribeye steaks. Hegseth more than quadrupled Austin’s spending on Alaskan king crab, while Austin’s spending on salmon was roughly six times that of Hegseth’s. The food went toward feeding military personnel, the nonprofit noted.

The Biden and Trump administration’s Pentagon expenses saw parallels for other line items, too. Hegseth’s $5.3 million on Apple products is comparable to Austin’s $5.1 million. Both spent more than $1 million on musical instruments. Hegseth tripled Austin’s spending on footrests at about $111,000, according to the data. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and the Pentagon. 

En las últimas 24 horas, la Fuerza Aérea de Israel bombardeó más de 200 objetivos en el oeste y el centro de Irán, con apoyo de la Dirección de Inteligencia israelí. Los blancos incluyeron lanzadores de misiles balísticos, sistemas de defensa aérea y plantas de producción de armas del régimen iraní.

Durante la madrugada, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, afirmó en redes sociales que las fuerzas estadounidenses tienen “una potencia de fuego sin igual, munición ilimitada y tiempo de sobra” y que están “destruyendo por completo el régimen terrorista de Irán”.

Desde el interior de Irán, el Cuerpo de la Guardia Revolucionaria Islámica (CGRI) amenazó a opositores locales y advirtió que podrían enfrentar “un golpe aún más fuerte que el del 8 de enero”, en alusión a la represión de las protestas registradas ese mes contra el entonces régimen de Ali Khamenei en Teherán y otras ciudades.

Además, el régimen de Teherán lanzó una nueva ola de misiles que fueron detectados por el Ejército de Israel y por países del Golfo como Arabia Saudita, Emiratos Árabes Unidos y Bahréin. Los impactos dejaron más de 60 heridos en la región. El servicio de ambulancias israelí Magen David Adom informó que 58 personas resultaron lesionadas tras un ataque con proyectiles contra Zarzir, una ciudad cercana a la frontera con Líbano.

A continuación, la cobertura minuto a minuto:

The Justice Department filed a criminal complaint this week against a Venezuelan national accused of assaulting a federal officer and grabbing and possessing the officer’s gun while resisting arrest outside a business earlier this month.

Law enforcement officers assigned to the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Task Force, or HSTF, began surveillance near a business in Utica, Michigan, after receiving information that individuals living in the U.S. illegally were working at the site as delivery drivers.

Agents observed a vehicle registered to Arnoldo Jose Marquez-Pulido, 33, who was leaving the parking lot, and they determined he was in the country illegally, according to a press release from the Justice Department. 

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After agents attempted a routine traffic stop, authorities say Marquez-Pulido briefly pulled over before fleeing from officers at a «high rate of speed.» 

He then returned to the business location, where he proceeded to flee on foot, the criminal complaint alleged.

An HSTF agent proceeded to tackle Marquez-Pulido after he allegedly ignored the agent’s commands to stop and attempted to enter the business, the Justice Department said in a press release.

During the struggle, Marquez-Pulido is accused of striking the agent in the face with his elbow and reaching for the agent’s service weapon, identified as a «Glock 19» pistol. Prosecutors say he was able to remove the gun from the agent’s holster and briefly wield it before losing control of it as the agent regained leverage. 

Additional officers responded and recovered the weapon from the ground. Authorities say Marquez-Pulido continued to resist before being restrained.

The agent sustained a contusion to his elbow, abrasions to his knees and hands and a contusion to his cheek, officials said. A second agent sustained a knee contusion. Both were treated at a hospital and released.

Marquez-Pulido was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in Detroit this week, though prosecutors said they will seek to have him held in custody pending further proceedings.

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Residents and federal and Border Patrol agents in California June 19, 2025.   (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Marquez-Pulido is believed to have entered the U.S. at a San Ysidro, California, port of entry in 2024, without a visa or valid travel documents.

Federal prosecutors said the allegations against the Venezuelan national underscore the dangers that some officers face while seeking to crack down on border security and enforce a hardline immigration enforcement agenda that President Donald Trump has prioritized during his second White House term. 

«Some say that enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is unfair because illegal aliens are all harmless,» U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon of the Eastern District of Michigan said in a statement.  «Today’s allegations break that narrative.

«High-speed flight from arrest, fighting federal agents and grabbing an agent’s gun are not ‘harmless,’» he added. «And what’s ‘unfair’ is the fact that Americans pay the price for dangerous illegal aliens.» 

The news comes as DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said assaults on officers have increased sharply and vowed to pursue individuals accused of violence against law enforcement.

Senate lawmakers remain sharply divided over how to proceed with fully funding DHS and ending the shutdown that stretched into its 27th day Thursday. 

Immigration enforcement has emerged as a key sticking point for Democrats, in particular, as they continue to grapple over the specifics of a bill to fully fund the sprawling federal agency.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., March 3, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday he and most Democrats in the chamber were ready to fund «most of DHS,» including TSA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FEMA and the Coast Guard but not Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency or CBP. 

Schumer, for his part, has also accused Republicans in the chamber of blocking the bill due to disagreements over immigration, prompting a heated exchange with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

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«I assume the Democrat leader is aware of the fact that we have tried repeatedly to fund everything temporarily to allow the negotiations over the ICE budget to continue,» Thune shot back.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.