WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, said in a tweet Wednesday that the top general in charge of the U.S. Space Command told him during a meeting that Huntsville, not Colorado Springs, Colo., is the preferred location for in its new headquarters.
Tuberville’s tweet, which his office also issued in a press release, is the latest twist in the ongoing fight over where the US Space Command should be located. The decision has become embroiled in a much larger political fight between Tuberville and the Department of Defense over the reproductive health care of service members, now jeopardizing the promotions of hundreds of military officers.
The senator tweeted that Gen. James Dickinson “confirmed that Huntsville is the preferred location for Space Command headquarters. Enough is enough, it’s time to bring US Space Command home to Huntsville.”
The US Space Command had no comment on Tuberville’s statement.
Tuberville is fighting a grassroots decision that could bring hundreds of lucrative jobs to his constituency. The Air Force and Space Force initially recommended that the headquarters be located in Colorado Springs, but in the final days of his term, President Donald Trump decided that the new headquarters would be based in Huntsville.
Huntsville scored higher than Colorado Springs in a Government Accountability Office assessment of potential sites and has long been home to some of the first missiles used in the nation’s space programs, including the Saturn V rocket. It is the headquarters of the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command.
Colorado Springs is home to the Air Force Academy, which now graduates Space Force rangers, and more than 24 military space missions, including three Space Force bases and the temporary home of the US Space Command. Advocates of keeping the command in Colorado argue that moving it to Huntsville and creating a new headquarters would set back its progress at a time when it needs to move quickly to be positioned to match China’s expanding military presence.
The grassroots decision, while not directly related, has become part of a larger political struggle. The Biden administration has not moved forward with allocating the headquarters to Huntsville as the decision went through a series of congressional and inspector general reviews. Meanwhile, Tuberville has used a Senate privilege to essentially halt any nominations or promotions of military officers until the Defense Department rescinds a policy that would allow and support service members to seek reproductive care outside their area of ‘current assignment.
The Biden administration has not said whether it will reverse the earlier decision to award the seat to Alabama, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country.
However, the warehouses have significant effects on military families who would now be preparing to move to their next base and settle their children in a new school.
