Alabama officials are fuming over reports that the White House is trying to stall plans to move the headquarters of the US Space Command to Alabama because of concerns about Alabama’s strict abortion law.
The law, which went into effect last summer, is one of the most restrictive in the country and bans almost all abortions, including cases of rape and incest. The White House had asked the Air Force to investigate why the measure was approved in the first place. now, NBC news is reporting
the plan can be discarded entirely.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told The Hill that he’s “been worried about this for two years.”
“For some reason, the Biden administration has been making this about politics and not merit,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we’re heading in that direction as we speak, but we’re not done. Hopefully they will wake up and understand [for] Space Command, the best place to be is in Huntsville, Alabama.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) echoed those remarks via Twitter on Tuesday.
“Alabama is the only choice for Space Command Headquarters — no ifs, no buts. The competition wasn’t even close,” he said. “The Pentagon knows it. And the White House knows it. I’ll keep saying it and Alabama will keep proving it until the official headquarters is in Huntsville.
It would not be the first time that a president has been accused of playing politics at the headquarters of the Space Command.
In 2019, then-President Trump reestablished the US Space Command (previously disbanded in 2002) to oversee military operations in outer space. He selected Colorado Springs as the temporary location of his headquarters, but chose Huntsville as the permanent location just before leaving office.
Colorado officials suggested that decision was a result of the 2020 election, when Colorado voted for Biden over Trump by more than 13 points.
A letter in March, from Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, a Republican, to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall suggesting that the decision to choose Huntsville was indeed influenced by the election. Suthers told him Washington Post that Trump told her “I want to see how it goes” during a conversation about Spacecom before the election.
trump they boasted that it single-handedly selected Huntsville, despite some Space Force officials saying the headquarters should remain in Colorado.
Others in his own party were angry, including Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), now chairman of the strategic forces subcommittee, who called it a “horrible decision.” at the time.
“If ever there was a resolution passed, this feels like one,” Dirk Draper, head of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, said at a 2021 news conference.
After Biden took office, the military conducted extensive reviews of potential political influence over the selection process, but the reviews found nothing improper.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the delayed announcement of the Space Command’s relocation is “beyond frustration.”
Rogers said the decision to move headquarters to Huntsville was made with merit, noting approval from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
“This decision was based on two studies — they took into account several factors, including quality of life, available infrastructure and workforce capabilities,” the congressman said in a statement. “Huntsville, Alabama finished first in both.”
“It’s past time for the Department of Defense along with the Administration to stop playing political games and claim Huntsville as the new home of Spacecom,” he said.
However, the GAO report identified what it calls “important gaps in transparency and credibility” of the process and also made recommendations that the Air Force develop guidelines for future base location decisions.
Spacecom’s potential location is an Army base called Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, which is already home to many companies in the space industry, including NASA, United Launch Alliance (ULA), Blue Origin and many more . A move there could get more of
1,400 US service members and their families, contractors and civilian employees, in the area.
White House officials have indicated that the delayed move is actually due to concerns about disruptions to operations amid the Russia-Ukraine war and growing concerns about China, rather than the laws on the abortion
The Administration also refuted the suggestion that the delayed decision to move has anything to do with Tuberville’s block of approximately 180 military nominations.
Tuberville is holding up the nominations of general and flag officers in protest of a new Pentagon policy that reimburses service members for travel costs to get an abortion if they live in states where the procedure is banned.
But that policy would come into play in Alabama.
When choosing the location of military installations, the government considers factors such as access to health care, room for growth, access to housing, proximity to airports, the cost and overall quality of life. Under Alabama’s abortion law, Spacecom personnel’s access to reproductive health care would be severely limited, especially when most of the personnel would be civilians not living on a military base.
Kendall, who was tasked with making the final decision on where Spacecom will be based, indicated that he knew nothing about Biden trying to stop any movement of the Spacecom headquarters.
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Tuberville said he talks to Kendall “quite often” and didn’t believe a final decision had been made.
The Biden administration has tasked Kendall with reviewing the location decision to see if any factors had changed since the selection.
“We are trying to consider all possible factors that will affect the final decision,” he said last month.
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