Congress threatens to block Space Command headquarters funding as abortion politics affects location decision – By Courtney Kube (NBC News) / May 31, 2023
The Biden administration is considering reversing a plan to move the facility to Alabama because of concerns about the state’s strict new anti-abortion laws.
Republican and Democratic members of Congress from Alabama submitted a draft House bill late last week that would block funding for the continued growth of U.S. Space Command’s temporary headquarters in Colorado, according to documents reviewed by NBC News.
Two congressional officials said the bill would prohibit the command from spending money on constructing, leasing or modernizing facilities until the secretary of the Air Force formally selects and publicly announces the location of its permanent headquarters, which the Trump administration said would be in Huntsville, Alabama.
NBC News reported this month that Biden administration officials have signaled privately to Defense Department leaders and lawmakers that they are considering reversing the planned move to Alabama over concerns about the state’s strict anti-abortion laws. Since the Trump administration announced in January 2021 that the headquarters would be in Huntsville, there has been a series of reviews and investigations of what has become a fraught, politically contentious process.
Air Force and defense officials also say that Space Command is on track to be fully operational by the end of this summer, months ahead of their last public statement, which said would not occur until the end of 2023.
