Democrats and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee have agreed on a slimmed-down version of President Trump’s Space Force and plan to add their version of the proposed sixth branch of the military to the National Defense Authorization Act this week.
Funding for the Space Force was not included in the initial draft of the bill, known as the “Chairman’s Mark,” which was released Monday by committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.
But at two events in Washington later in the day, Smith said that although the bipartisan agreement on the Space Force was not completed in time to be included, it would be added at Wednesday’s mark-up session.
“We’re going to have an amendment that puts that in our bill, and we’ll work out the details in conference,” Smith said at a discussion at Center for Strategic and Internal Studies.
Smith noted that the House version of the plan is similar to a bipartisan proposal to create a Space Corps as part of the Air Force that failed in the 2018 NDAA and has significant differences from the president’s plan.
“My basic position is yes, I think we need to place greater emphasis on space,” said Smith. “I think the proposal from the administration as too expensive, it has too much bureaucracy, and moves personnel around in a way that can undermine some other agencies and services unnecessarily.”
The compromise plan was worked out by Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who came up with the original concept in 2018.
The House plan would still have to be reconciled with the Senate version in a conference committee.
