Senator Ernst, a key Republican vote, seemed undecided on how she will vote on the nomination of Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department during her questioning of the nominee on Tuesday. While shooting Mr. Hegseth stern looks, Ms. Ernst pressed him on the issue of women in military combat roles. 

Ms. Ernst first made her concerns about Mr. Hegseth known last year, when she — a 23-year Army veteran who served a tour in Kuwait — said she needed to talk to the Pentagon nominee about his comments on a podcast in November that women should not be in combat roles. 

“We have had very frank conversations,” Ms. Ernst said at the opening of her question period. She met with Mr. Hegseth in her office in December, and said after their lengthy meeting that she would “support” Mr. Hegseth through the advise-and-consent process, though declined to say if she would give him her vote for confirmation. 

“I don’t keep anything hidden. [I] pull no punches,” the Iowa senator said. 

She asked Mr. Hegseth to commit to completing an audit of the Pentagon for her first question, which Mr. Hegseth immediately agreed to do.  “A lot of Iowans are really, really concerned about the wasteful Washington spending,” Ms. Ernst said. 

On women in combat roles, the senator said that Mr. Hegseth should be fully supportive of women serving in whatever capacity they are qualified to do. 

“It is incredibly important I stress … that every man and woman has [the] opportunity to serve their country in uniform and do so at any level so long as they are meeting the standards,” Ms. Ernst said. “We talked about that in my office.”

In response, Mr. Hegseth committed to maintaining women’s access to combat positions so long as they meet the physical and competence standards set for infantry, artillery, and other combat positions. 

“Women will have access to ground combat roles, given that standards remain high,” he said to Ms. Ernst. 

The senator has spoken openly about her status as a survivor of rape and domestic abuse, and pressed Mr. Hegseth on his commitment to combating sexual violence in the military if he is confirmed to lead the Pentagon. He said that he would do that if confirmed.

On policy issues, Mr. Hegseth said some of his most important missions at the head of the Defense Department would be to maintain the lethality of the American military, pivot its focus to the Indo-Pacific from the Middle East, and ensure Israel has the right to defend itself from Hamas. 

“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” Mr. Hegseth told Senator Cotton when asked about the Israel–Hamas war at Gaza.