{"id":54713,"date":"2018-08-17T12:14:56","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T12:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/17\/failure-to-launch-trumps-space-force-faces-senate-skeptics\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:05:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:05:44","slug":"failure-to-launch-trumps-space-force-faces-senate-skeptics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2018\/08\/17\/failure-to-launch-trumps-space-force-faces-senate-skeptics\/","title":{"rendered":"Failure to launch? Trump\u2019s Space Force faces Senate skeptics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 If President Donald Trump wants his proposed Space Force<\/a> to have a life beyond a campaign rally applause line, his administration will have to win over skeptics in both parties, especially in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Vice President Mike Pence laid out plans<\/a> last week for a new space-focused military branch to be created by 2020, the White House had not obtained buy-in ahead of time from two key constituencies: the Senate\u2019s Republican leaders and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraditionally, this has been a role played by the Air Force, and I\u2019ve not yet heard a compelling case why we need a separate force,\u201d Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters Aug. 16. \u201cMaybe there is a case to be made, I just haven\u2019t heard it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Trump\u2019s behest, Pence proposed a new branch be created from existing space-focused elements in the military as part of the 2020 budget cycle and announced the Pentagon will get the ball rolling with or without Congress to build a new space operations force and fast-track space acquisitions organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The White House contends it is working with lawmakers on the relevant committees, and at least one of them, House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers said he has spoken by phone with Trump. Rogers, R-Ala., led the effort in Congress last year create a space corps, subordinate to the Air Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two House Republican leaders \u2014 Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and GOP Whip Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana \u2014 are backing Trump\u2019s proposed Space Force, the Associated Press reported Aug. 16. The two are lead contenders to become House speaker when Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., retires at the end of his term in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The argument for a Space Force<\/a> is that Russia and China have anti-satellite technologies that endanger the space-based assets America depends upon for indispensable intelligence, surveillance communications and navigation capabilities. For decades, the United States treated space as a peaceful domain and seeded it with unprotected assets \u2014 and now it needs to go big, with a dedicated organization to establish American military dominance in space, the argument goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresident Trump has pulled the lever to do this, DoD has built the plans to do this, and the thing for us to do is not throw rocks but say this is leadership taking us in a new direction,\u201d said Senior Research Fellow for Defense Policy John Venable, of the conservative Heritage Foundation. \u201cIt won\u2019t hurt us, it will only help us. It may cost us a little more in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Space Force has generated plenty of headlines in recent weeks, but whether the administration has effectively communicated its arguments to lawmakers and the public yet is a separate question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to two recent polls, space fever isn\u2019t yet an epidemic. Per one CNN poll<\/a>, a majority of Americans (55 percent) say they don\u2019t support the new plans to establish a Space Force; only 37 percent said they do. A separate Economist\/YouGov<\/a> poll found only 29 percent of Americans thought the Space Force was a good idea; 42 percent thought it was a bad idea, and 29 percent were on the fence or expressed some other opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\t