Here are four major moments from the day’s committee hearings, beyond TikTok:
1. Afghanistan withdrawal
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) demanded Secretary of State Antony Blinken turn over a dissent cable related to the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan by Monday.
The Hill’s Laura Kelly wrote that McCaul sees the cable “as critically important to understanding why the Biden administration failed to anticipate the fall of the American-backed government and takeover by the Taliban,” while “Blinken said his department was holding back the physical copy of the cable to maintain the integrity of the Dissent Channel[.]”
2. Defense spending
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testified at a House Appropriations Committee hearing.
The Hill’s Brad Dress wrote, “In their most extensive public comments yet on potential budget reductions, the defense chiefs pushed back against an agreement reached earlier this year among more conservative House Republicans to cap all discretionary spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, which has led to concerns about defense spending cuts.”
3. Transportation Department definitions
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that the department is reviewing its definition of “high-hazard flammable train” after the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment in February.
4. Gun regulation
Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin Oliver died in the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was arrested after being removed from a joint committee hearing on gun regulation.