U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) released the following statement regarding President Biden’s politically-based decision to keep U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, instead of following through with the previous U.S. Air Force decision to make Huntsville, Alabama, the permanent home of SPACECOM headquarters.
“Over two and a half years ago, the Air Force chose Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville for the headquarters of Space Command over 59 other cities on the basis of 21 different criteria.
As soon as Joe Biden took office, he paused movement on that decision and inserted politics into what had been a fair and objective competition—not because the facts had changed, but because the political party of the sitting President had changed.
The Biden Administration has been talking a lot about readiness over the past few months, but no Administration has done more to damage our military readiness in my lifetime. They’ve politicized our military, destroyed our recruiting, misused our tax dollars for their extremist social agenda, and now they are putting Space Command headquarters in a location that didn’t even make the top three. They are doing this at a time when space is only becoming more important for national security.
It is also shameful that the Administration waited until Congress had gone into recess and already passed next year’s defense budget before announcing this decision.
The top three choices for Space Command headquarters were all in red states—Alabama, Nebraska, and Texas. Colorado didn’t even come close. This decision to bypass the three most qualified sites looks like blatant patronage politics, and it sets a dangerous precedent that military bases are now to be used as rewards for political supporters rather than for our security.
There remain serious questions as to whether the Air Force illegally used taxpayer dollars to upgrade facilities in Colorado Springs. I hope that House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers will continue his investigation into that matter.
This is absolutely not over. I will continue to fight this as long as it takes to bring Space Command where it would be best served—Huntsville, Alabama.
Today’s disastrous mistake just adds to the long string of bad decisions that this compromised President has made. He is batting 1000 in that category since taking office.”
