The U.S. Senate has approved an amendment to its fiscal year 2018 defense authorization bill that would block a controversial House proposal to create a space corps.
The Senate language, offered by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would ban the use of FY 2018 funds to establish a space corps. The prohibition is among the more than 100 amendments that the Senate quietly added to the bill during floor consideration the week of Sept. 11. The Senate is expected to pass the overall bill Sept. 18.
The House, which approved its version of the bill in July, would set up a space corps within the Air Force Department. The Senate bill, by contrast, already contained a provision to create a chief information warfare officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense to oversee cyber security, cyber warfare, electronic warfare, the electromagnetic spectrum and space. Differences between the two bills will be resolved by a conference committee.
Proponents of the space corps, led by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces panel, contend the new organization is needed because space management is fragmented and because space does not receive enough attention in the aviation-focused Air Force.
Opponents, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, have countered that a new bureaucracy would slow their efforts to coordinate space activities.
Nelson “believes we need better coordination and focus on space but adding another layer of bureaucracy is the wrong answer,” said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. “Nelson’s position is consistent with top brass at the Pentagon who have argued we need less bureaucracy, not more, if we are going to keep control of the high ground in space.”
Rogers recently acknowledged that he still has work to do to get his proposal enacted into law.
“Once we see what the Senate’s version is coming off the Senate floor, then we’ll look at what options are available” for a compromise, he told reporters Sept. 6. “We’re ready for dialogue.”