Scoop: Inside Hegseth's classified plea for more defense funds

Top Pentagon officials are already pitching reconciliation 4.0 to Senate Republicans behind closed doors, underscoring the need for a massive boost in military funds, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Thune hasn't embraced reconciliation 3.0. The White House is already looking beyond it.

• Trump officials are quietly sketching out a lame-duck package that could pair significant Pentagon funding with other priorities, including a debt ceiling increase that will be necessary sometime in 2027. They see it as going hand in hand with the current effort to pass reconciliation 3.0.
• The administration's case goes beyond replenishing weapons depleted by the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine. Officials are also sounding alarms about the need to invest in artificial intelligence now as China advances.
• In the shorter term, the White House is pushing the House's version of the budget resolution, which only includes $67 billion in defense spending.

Driving the news: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and several undersecretaries gave Republican members of key Senate committees a detailed, closed-door briefing Tuesday morning, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

• The officials gave an around-the-world threat analysis, laying out for senators how the U.S. stacks up against key adversaries — with an emphasis on China, the sources said.
• Emil Michael, undersecretary for research and engineering, laid out the importance of significant spending on AI to maintain the U.S.' edge over China.
• Officials showed "candor" on U.S. munitions stockpiles amid the conflict with Iran, and provided "a level of detail that the committees have been seeking," as one source described it.

The meeting was held in a secure setting, with some classified material covered.

The intrigue: Multiple senators urged the officials to expand their outreach beyond Republicans already sold on a massive increase in defense budgets to try to start winning over senators on the fence.

• Democrats were not invited to the briefing.
• They also have been excluded from other recent briefings on Iran, another source familiar with the matter told Axios.