Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) told reporters Wednesday that it will take time to work through the different requirements coming from the White House, Congress and Pentagon to stand up a new space service, Military.com reported.
Thornberry, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, spoke at a roundtable discussion in Washington, D.C., and emphasized the upcoming conference committee negotiations on the fiscal 2020 NDAA to get the new force off the ground.
“I think we will come out of conference with a lean Space Force designed to meet the objectives that we all want to achieve,” Thornberry said according to the report.
Thornberry said the White House started with a relatively simple proposal for a separate military branch, then DOD added its contributions that in their current form Capitol Hill does not generally support.
In addition, the Senate and House have different proposals on how the command should be organized, and the amount of start-up funding to allocate.
Both legislative chambers agree the new branch should reside within the Air Force, but have differences on its structure and creation.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has moved forward with plans largely based on DOD’s proposals while the House proposal has a slightly different organizational structure.
A likely negotiations sticking point is that the Democrat-led House favors a “Space Corps” within the Air Force, rather than an independent military branch sought by the White House.
Another sticking point is that the Senate Armed Services Committee authorized $72.4 million in line with DOD’s proposal, while House Democrats will likely seek to reduce DOD’s request.
Thornberry emphasized that Capitol Hill lawmakers aren’t ignoring the Pentagon’s contributions. “We’ll listen to what DOD officials say, but there are a lot of different voices saying things … depending on where you are,” Thornberry said.
Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Lucas Hopkins