RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The following is the transcript of an interview with Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 2, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, who joins us from Columbus, Ohio, this morning. Good morning to you, Senator.SENATOR MARK KELLY: Good morning, Margaret.MARGARET BRENNAN: We\u0027re now in the sixth month of this war we had been told would last four to five weeks. In the past week, the targets have widened. Iran hit Egypt. We saw Saudi Arabia join the U.S. in bombing Iranian-backed militias there, and then late last night, President Trump used the term that he had been considering military action on levels unseen since World War II. You sit on Intelligence, you sit on Armed Services. Has the administration shared anything in regard to its plans on Iran?SEN. KELLY: I mean, not these latest plans, and I think what we\u0027re seeing here is a president who has an approach to this that\u0027s just rather erratic. He says one thing, he does another thing. It\u0027s escalatory. At this point, he\u0027s trying to get us back to February, and I think if he could, he would. If he had a big reset button he could hit, he would certainly take that option. Hey, we\u0027ve got 18 dead Americans. Prices have skyrocketed across the country for the American people. I was here in Ohio- I\u0027m here in Ohio now, but I met with some veterans the other day, and they\u0027re struggling. I mean, these are a lot of retired service members that can\u0027t afford to put gas in their car, can\u0027t afford groceries. Rent is going up, and this president is not dealing with the issues that the American people need him to deal with.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you know, in our polling, we see that this is a very unpopular war, and it\u0027s weighing on the president\u0027s own approval ratings. But Democrats are faring slightly worse. According to CBS polling, when asked who has the better approach to Iran, 32% say Trump and the GOP. Only 30% say the Democrats. So we are in this thing. Do Democrats need to offer an affirmative vision for ending it?SEN. KELLY: Well, I don\u0027t think it\u0027s the president\u0027s vision. Here\u0027s a guy who got us into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline. He\u0027s got a Secretary of Defense that doesn\u0027t know how to manage this war, who decided a good metric at the beginning was just to drop as many munitions as he could on as many targets, and now we\u0027ve got a munitions shortage. Big surprise. So they\u0027re flailing. They\u0027re stuck. They\u0027re responsible for this, and the president is the one that has to try to figure out a way out of this. I would suggest to him, though, that the solution is not to do the same thing that he\u0027s been doing, not to have his real estate buddy and his son-in-law in charge of a negotiation, to put some people in here that know how to do this, how to talk to the Iranians, and put a coalition together, bring our allies back together. He\u0027s alienated not only our GCC allies but our European allies as well, and it\u0027s just making this much harder for him to figure out a way out.MARGARET BRENNAN: But the Washington Post is reporting that the top U.S. general in Europe, General Grynkewich, warned the Pentagon that he lacks resources to protect Israel from incoming ballistic missiles, and if he\u0027s without another Navy destroyer, he will be forced to choose between defense of the homeland versus that of Israel. It sounds like for the moment Israel\u0027s not rejoining combat operations. But what does that say to you? Have you heard these concerns from this top commander yourself?SEN. KELLY: I haven\u0027t heard this specifically from Grynkewich on- on this issue, but we- it\u0027s- it\u0027s not- Margaret, it\u0027s not- this isn\u0027t rocket science. It\u0027s not hard to figure out. I mean, we- we struck over 14,000 targets with multiple munitions. That- that is- puts a lot of stress on the magazine depth. So of course, our commanders, probably not only in Europe but in other places are starting to feel some stress on can they meet the need if they need to defend the homeland or our allies. You can see why this is an issue for him, and that\u0027s because at the beginning of this thing there was no strategic goal, and without the goal, it\u0027s hard to figure out what to do next.MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.SEN. KELLY: And I think that\u0027s why, that you know, that\u0027s why Hegseth went just to try to set records on the number of targets hit.MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, I should say for the record that the Pentagon says it\u0027s media speculation, and they don\u0027t comment on operational capabilities. We did ask them to clarify that. But on the point about restocking, Secretary Hegseth says he needs money from Congress to do that to replenish munitions. He needs money from Congress to pay salaries. He needs $67 billion. You recently were asked, and you said you were undecided on how you would vote on additional funding. How do you deny that needed funding?SEN. KELLY: Well, Margaret, last year we passed a defense budget that was over a trillion dollars. That was the first time ever. It was sold to us as a one-time generational investment in the department, and in my view, they squandered that. Now they\u0027re coming and they\u0027re asking for $1.5 trillion, plus a supplemental. We\u0027re gonna- we\u0027re approaching the amount of money that every other country on the planet spends on defense in a year. This is irresponsible, and now they want a blank check. Hey, I\u0027m going to make sure the troops have what they need to defend themselves and defend the United States--\u00a0MARGARET BRENNAN: -- So you would vote for the 67?-- \u00a0SEN. KELLY: --but they need to come to us-- no, not- no, not necessarily. They need to come to us with a reasonable approach here. The $1.5 trillion, you know that has...
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