Congressional negotiators have rejected the House’s plan to create a new “Space Corps” — omitting the proposal for a new military branch under the umbrella of the Air Force from the final version of a nearly $700 billion bipartisan defense policy bill called the National Defense Authorization Act.
Despite support from House Armed Services Committee leaders — including chairman Mac Thornberry — the Space Corps proposal will not be included in the final NDAA for fiscal year 2018. Though the bill does contain language directing further long-term study of the issue, according to senior staff for both armed service committees, who briefed reporters on the contents of the bill Wednesday.
The proposal, which was included in the House’s National Defense Authorization Act, would have set up a Space Corps in the mold of the Marine Corps, which is a separate military branch that’s housed within the Navy.
The authors of the idea argued that a separate and dedicated force devoted to space is needed to keep the US ahead of adversaries like Russia and China in the still-emerging domain of space war, arguing the Air Force is primarily devoted to fighting in the air, rather than space.
Rep. Mike Rogers, the Strategic Forces Subcommittee chairman who proposed the idea, has argued that the Air Force was prioritizing its fighter jets over space, and a dedicated service was needed to stay ahead of China and Russia in what many see as the next frontier of warfare.
But the idea was opposed by Pentagon leaders and the White House, who argued the idea was premature and needed more study.
Defense Secretary James Mattis even took the rare step of writing a letter supporting an amendment to remove the Space Corps from the House’s version of policy bill earlier this year.
“It’s unusual for us to write on an issue like that,” Mattis told reporters in July. “I don’t want to say anymore right now. I leave that to Congress — I made known what I think and now we’ll leave it to Congress and their legislative role.”
Ultimately, the Space Corps plan was left out of the FY2018 NDAA which authorizes a total of $692.1 billion in discretionary budget authority — approximately $626.4 billion in base budget authority and roughly $65.7 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), senior staffers said.
The measure would fully authorize a pay increase for service members, increase missile defense, and add additional ships and aircraft.
However, the bill would also set defense spending well above the $549 billion cap under the Budget Control Act and Senate Democrats have vowed to block major increases to defense spending without equal increases for domestic programs.
That fight will occur later this year over the defense appropriations bill, which is a separate piece of legislation that allocates spending for the Pentagon.