For people late to the story and curious or veterans of the long fight over the U.S. Space Command’s permanent headquarters, a congressional debate Thursday lends some clarity. And some heat as U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) says he’s “enraged” by base competitor Colorado’s latest moves.

The video of the debate shows the House Armed Services Committee reviewing the proposed Pentagon budget this week. The fight between Colorado and Alabama, finalists in a competition for the headquarters that Alabama won, came when U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (D-Colo.) proposed to strike an amendment to the Pentagon spending bill related to the command. Watch the debate here starting at time mark 4:22 (four hours, 22 minutes in).

The amendment would stop the Pentagon from spending any money for construction or modification of the provisional headquarters in Colorado or its final location “if the report required by the rest of this section has not been submitted.”

Lamborn, whose state has the startup headquarters and was one of the finalists for the permanent headquarters, said he had no problem with the required report, but freezing any spending on facilities at the current Colorado headquarters could threaten national security. He does share Alabama’s frustration, Lamborn said.

Lamborn would later withdraw the measure after committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and member U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala) both opposed it and U.S. Rep. Dale Strong (R-Huntsville) ran down the evidence for Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal as preferred command headquarters. When the ranking Democrat on the committee, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, also opposed Lamborn’s attempt to remove Rogers’ spending amendment, Lamborn withdrew it.

“I can see the handwriting on the wall,” Lamborn said later.

Space Command HQ history

Space Command was established in 2019 and based in Colorado Springs, where it has operated while the Pentagon followed procedure and reviewed proposals by various states that wanted the command. Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal won that formal competition, but Alabama lawmakers have accused the command of quietly spending so much money upgrading the “temporary” Colorado facilities that the Pentagon could do Space Command’s vital mission there. There’s no need for a headquarters anywhere else, Colorado supporters now say.

Rogers himself introduced the amendment Lamborn opposed. It “would prohibit any funding for construction or modifications of U.S. Space Command at either its provisional or final headquarters starting on Oct. 1 of this year if the (review requested by the legislation) is not completed.”

Lamborn said the amendment is “seriously flawed and harms our national security. It freezes funding for any U.S. Space Command construction projects no matter how necessary. Should this become law this provision would prohibit even minor improvements necessary for national security including adding classified spaces for mission planning, shielding computers and other critical electronics from magnetic pulses and even routine cyber security upgrades.”

Lamborn said he shares Alabama’s frustration with the drawn out and flawed headquarters selection process. “I share their desire that this decision be made soon,” Lamborn said. But he said operations at Space Command “could not be allowed to be interrupted.”

“The chair now recognizes himself,” Rogers replied. “There’s nobody that knows the threats we face in national security space better than me. That’s why I’m so enraged by this pointless, ridiculous amendment.

“Let me restate the facts we’ve got,” Rogers said. “There was a competition … for Space Command. After that first competition, there were some objections by some states so there was another competition. That was completed 18 months ago. There was then complaints by the Colorado delegation because they came in fifth and Alabama came in first that there had to be political shenanigans by the previous (Trump) administration.

“So this (Biden) administration’s (General Accounting Office) and Inspector General reviewed it,” Rogers said. “They completed that a year ago stating there was no manipulation. Alabama won it fair and square. Colorado came in fifth.

“The Secretary of the Air Force has yet to make an announcement on a decision of where the permanent headquarters will be,” Rogers said. “All (his) language says is, ‘Make a decision. If you don’t make a decision, we’re going to stop you from spending more money on temporary headquarters and, by the way, we’re taking half your travel budget.’

“It does not say what decision to make…,” Rogers said. “All I want them to do is make a decision. I’m not telling them how. Make a decision. And this guy (Lamborn) is willing to delay it. I urge you to vote no on the amendment.”

When Rogers finished speaking, Smith, a Democrat, said he agreed with Rogers and his summary of the facts.

“What the chairman is referencing is as they’re stumbling along here (en route to a decision) they’re spending money on building up a potential Space Command in Colorado without making the actual decision,” Smith said. “I believe this kind of forcing mechanism will push the Air Force to make a decision.

“And I don’t care where they put it,” Smith said. “I really don’t. Just make a decision. It has been too long; it has been a great failure by the Department of Defense to not address this to date. We should have this decision tomorrow.”

‘Would you buy the fifth-best bulletproof vest?’

U.S. Rep. Dale Strong (R-Huntsville) followed Smith and reviewed what he said were the facts about the competition. It all started when the Air Force announced Redstone as the preferred location in January 2021 after a “yearlong, thorough, 21-category basing process,” Strong said.

“In the first phase of the basing process, Redstone ranked No. 1,” Strong said. “In the second phase of the basing process, Redstone ranked No. 1. In the first phase of the basing process, Peterson Air Force Base (in Colorado Springs) ranked No. 4. In the second phase of the basing process, Peterson Air Force Base ranked No. 5.”

Investigations by the Department of Defense inspector general and the General Accounting Office found no violation to justify overturning that ranking, Strong said. The final reports from both investigations were released a year ago.

Strong said he understood and respected Lamborn’s fight for his district but asked the committee if it “would select the fifth-most-qualified to build an F-35 fighter jet. Would you buy the fifth-best bulletproof vest for the U.S. warfighter?”

Committee member Sewell, the Alabama Democrat, also spoke to support Republicans Strong and Rogers. “This is really about forcing the Air Force to make a decision,” she said. “It does not demand a particular decision in favor of one or the other.”