Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) immediately regretted his decision to demand an example from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of a medical research project that he believed the Defense Department was justified in terminating.

Hegseth appeared on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Durbin used some of his time in an attempt to attack Hegseth by claiming that, under his leadership, the Defense Department was cutting funding to vital medical research efforts.

WATCH:

SEN. DURBIN: “Give me an example of a ‘boondoggle’ in medical research & defense health.”

SEC. HEGSETH: “We’re talking about some stuff I shouldn’t say in public. You know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars.” pic.twitter.com/0qOkozf9p7

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Durbin began by touting his own actions, saying that during his tenure on that committee they had “dramatically increased the medical research to protect the men and women in uniform … It is enough for me that they risk their lives for our country. We shouldn’t make it a more dangerous situation, and we ought to understand what’s going on in their minds and their bodies when they serve.”

He then turned to Hegseth, complaining that millions of dollars in research projects had been canceled since he became Defense Secretary: “Your budget cuts two thirds — two thirds of that amount for defense health research. How can that be consistent with our mutual goal of making the military life a safer life for our men and women in uniform?”

“Senator, I would take issue with your characterization that all two-thirds of that — whatever was reduced — is focussed on the issues that you just spoke about,” Hegseth replied, saying that if the funding had been used for research that improved service members’ lives, he would support it.

“My team knows that’s exactly the type of research that we would fund,” Hegseth continued. “But we did find lots of other research inside the Defense Department to the tens of millions and in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars that was a boondoggle for the American people.”

“Give me an example of a ‘boondoggle’ in medical research and defense health,” Durbin interrupted.

“We’re talking about — some stuff I shouldn’t say in public. You know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars. Things that don’t have —” Hegseth obliged.

Durbin, clearly wishing he could withdraw the question, attempted to deflect: “Is this like the 300 — 300 — is this like the 350-year-old Social Security check that the president told us about?”

“Senator, I respect completely the issue that you’re speaking with … the Defense Department has been a place where organizations, entities, and companies know they can get money almost unchecked whether or not it actually applies to things that happen on the battlefield. That’s what we worked very hard to find in ways that other secretaries have not. This committee and others talk about waste, fraud, and abuse all the time. We have actually gone after waste, fraud, and abuse. Because every dollar that was spent is another dollar we can pour into the war-fighters.”

Durbin tried one last time, saying that cutting two-thirds of the spending — would not “Make America Great Again” for the families of service members: “I don’t think so.” He did not address Hegseth’s point regarding the fact that much of the spending had been found to be “waste, fraud, and abuse” — and instead, he changed the subject to complain about the military parade scheduled for Flag Day.