President Trump’s plan for a new Space Force military service might be heading for trouble on Capitol Hill.
“What I oppose is a separate branch. I don’t think a separate branch makes sense,” said Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. “What is the most cost effective way to give space the emphasis it deserves. I know it is not a Space Force.”
The Washington congressman said he remains open to an earlier idea floated by the House to create a Space Corps, which would be located inside the Department of the Air Force. His firmed-up opposition to a new military service was first reported by Politico.
Trump has touted Space Force for months and ordered the Pentagon to send a legislative request to Congress for the first new military service since the Air Force was created in 1947.
The House Armed Services Committee has been pushing a historic overhaul of military space operations under a Republican majority for the past two years. But Democrats have a real chance to win a majority in the chamber during the November midterm elections, according to pollsters.
[Opinion: Space Force has a cool name but more bureaucracy isn’t going to keep America safe]
That means Smith could be sitting in the committee chairman’s seat next January when the Pentagon presents its proposal. His skepticism could rally a Democrat Armed Services majority against a signature Trump plan that is estimated to cost billions of dollars.
A Democrat-controlled committee could also dramatically realign the House and Senate armed services committees’ positions on a space overhaul.
The Senate Armed Services Committee under the late Sen. John McCain had been skeptical of plans both to create a Space Corps and a Space Force. It managed to scuttle the proposal in the last National Defense Authorization Act.
But the new chairman, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., a staunch Trump backer, has said he is warming to the idea of a new military space service.
