Trump admin live updates: Trump says Hamas will release hostage Edan Alexander

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins gave his first testimony on Capitol Hill since his confirmation in early February, answering at-times heated questions from Democrats on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Several Democrats took aim at the 15% staff reduction Collins proposed in February via a video announcement.

"If you fire the people who have been hired in the last five years, you will be firing physicians, nurses, surgeons, counselors, workers who are front line. You cannot slash and trash the VA without eliminating those essential positions, which provide access and mobility of healthcare. It simply cannot be done," Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.

Collins responded, claiming the number is a target that has not yet been decided on or implemented.

"There's verbiage being said from the dais that I would like to say, as I have said already, that there is a goal of looking at a 15% reduction stated on several occasions. Already saying we're going to fire 83,000 employees -- that is wrong," he said.

Collins said the department's official number of staff reductions implemented so far is roughly 1,000.

-ABC News' Nathan Luna

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke with reporters Tuesday about the issues affecting Newark Airport, which has been hit with various issues and delays because of a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Duffy blamed the Biden administration for not investing in the air facilities, particularly the Philadelphia facility that manages the flights out of Newark.

"These facilities have to operate as we're building new radar, fiber, radios, sensors, so that choreography is going to be challenging for us," he said.

Duffy said Newark is safe for flying despite the issues it has faced and vowed to get more air traffic controllers hired.

"We think we can supercharge our air traffic controllers through the academy. That takes time," he said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday did not hint at the U.S. standing down on the Houthis or discuss ongoing operations when he spoke at an annual conference in Tampa, Florida, focused on special operations forces.

Instead, Hegseth spoke only in general terms of Trump's goal was to re-establish deterrence around the world.

In a speech, Hegseth talked about raising "combat standards."

"They have to believe that America is strong, that peace through strength is real," Hegseth said in his speech.

"No more pronouns, no more climate change obsession, no more emergency vaccine mandates, no more dudes in dresses. We're done with that s---," he said.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

The Houthis are not immediately agreeing to the U.S. proposed ceasefire, according to a Houthi official.

The Houthis will "evaluate" the U.S. ceasefire proposal “on the ground first,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, said in a post on X.

"Yemen operations were and still are a support for Gaza to stop the aggression and bring in aid," he said in his post.

-ABC News' Ellie Kaufman