{"id":61883,"date":"2019-09-19T13:32:14","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T13:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/19\/after-white-house-push-on-space-force-inhofe-mulls-faster-launch-in-defense-bill\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:37:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:37:40","slug":"after-white-house-push-on-space-force-inhofe-mulls-faster-launch-in-defense-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/09\/19\/after-white-house-push-on-space-force-inhofe-mulls-faster-launch-in-defense-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force price tag clouds decision to formally launch, despite White House push"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 A key legal change the Trump administration is seeking would enshrine a U.S. Space Force<\/a> as a separate branch of the military next year \u2015 but it could cost billions more upfront than what the Senate had planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe<\/a>, R-Okla., an ally of the president, indicated Tuesday he was leaning toward the move after Vice President Mike Pence personally lobbied him to include the new force under Title 10, the section of United States code that organizes the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe president is very strong on wanting to have it and wanting to do it immediately and wanting to do it, obviously, before the election \u2015 and we\u2019re going to try and get that done,\u201d Inhofe said about legislation to create a new Space Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Pence spoke at the Senate Republican caucus\u2019 weekly lunch and met with Inhofe afterward \u2015 ahead of the formal start of negotiations Thursday between the House and Senate over their competing versions of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, a massive defense policy bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Inhofe remained concerned with the potential for massive added costs and how they would be absorbed by the bill because of how the costs are scored by the Congressional Budget Office, the agency tasked with estimating costs associated with legislative proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CBO estimated the administration\u2019s Space Force proposal would add $800 million to $1.3 billion in annual costs, and between $1.1 billion and $3 billion in one-time costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, according to CBO\u2019s analysis, the Senate bill doesn\u2019t incur those costs because it doesn\u2019t take a key step: declaring the new service into being. Instead, the Senate set a number of conditions and a one-year timeline for the Pentagon to start building the Space Force, all aimed at cutting costs and requiring the Pentagon prove it has a vision for the new branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\t