On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a $738 billion bill that would start funding President Trump’s much-cherished Space force.
The U.S. Space Force would take some existing personnel and shift them to the Space Force, which would become a new branch of the military, as The Daily Mail reported.
President @realDonaldTrump made a promise to the American people that our Nation will maintain leadership in space and the agreement reached on the NDAA marks a historic step by establishing the sixth branch of the military, the Space Force! Promises Made, Promises Kept!
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) December 11, 2019
The Hill reported, “Space Force would be housed in the Department of the Air Force in a structure similar to the Marine Corps’s relationship to the Department of the Navy. The service would be led by the chief of space operations, who would report directly to the secretary of the Air Force and become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Al), the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee, told reporters, “People have been trying to kill this baby in the womb for the last three years, and I believe there is going to be some people who want to see it die in the crib. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Rogers and Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) “wrote the language to establish a Space Corps under the Department of the Air Force in the 2018 NDAA but their bill was defeated in the House-Senate conference,” as Space News reported. Cooper said, “This is like the birth of a new baby, Its mother is the Air Force for some time. But this child will grow up to be independent. It is just going to take some time.”
Cooper added, “The Air Force was neglecting its space mission and not performing as well as the NRO [National Reconnaissance Office]. We wanted a new independent service under the Air Force. Our vision was not to spend much money, but to put Air Force space money under a new management. We’re going to watch it like a hawk.”
Rogers opined, “It was obvious as we look back over the last decade or two that the Air Force was not making space capabilities a priority.” He said as long as space remained in the Air Force, “it would be one of 11 other missions, never properly resourced and developed. That’s what motivated this. And Congress has come around after we couldn’t get it done two years ago.”
Rogers noted that the House Armed Services Committee had voted 60-1 to establish a Space Corps before President Trump championed it, but credited Trump, who he said, “re-energized it and gave us a second wind.”He also credited Vice-President Mike Pence convincing the Senate Armed Services Committee to support the idea after it had been slow to accept it. He said, “The vice president really helped us on the Senate side.”
Rogers asserted that keeping space in the Air Force would trigger a “battle of resources.” He said the Air Force was “robbing the space programs for air dominance programs,” adding, “Culturally that’s what they’re bred to do. It’s another reason why this had to happen. They allowed space to atrophy. That’s when we started to fall behind China and Russia. We want to get back to the dominant position we used to have.”