(The Center Square) – President-elect Donald Trump may reverse the Biden administration’s decision to relocate Space Command headquarters to Colorado Springs from Huntsville, Alabama.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., who serves as the House Armed Service Committee chairman, told a local radio station that he expects that Trump will reverse the Biden administration’s decision shortly after taking office.
Rogers also thinks that construction on a Huntsville facility will begin next year.
“I’ve told y’all since Biden made that crooked decision, it wasn’t going to work,” Rogers told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5 this week. “As you know, on the Armed Services Committee, I put a hold on any money being spent in Colorado Springs after President Biden came in and stole that mission away. And I told everybody then that Colorado Springs will not be the future capital or location of Space Command. It will be Huntsville, Alabama, who won at fair and square. And President Trump said in the campaign that he was going to reverse that decision if elected. But I knew he would because if you remember, not only did Alabama win two nationwide competitions, but President Trump’s secretary of the Air Force recommended Huntsville, President Biden’s Secretary of the Air Force recommended Huntsville, and then Biden took it away for political reasons.”
Huntsville, also known as Rocket City, is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; Colorado Springs is home to over 45,000 active duty U.S. soldiers. The U.S. Air Force Academy is a few miles north of Colorado Springs.
Rogers also said that he does not expect House Democrats to oppose the decision.
“Keep in mind, you know, in the House Armed Services Committee, the Democrats weren’t pushing back against Trump putting it there because it won,” Rogers told 1819 News. “You’ll remember, (Democratic Alabama Congressman) Terri Sewell was very active on our committee. (Ranking Democratic Congressman) Adam Smith remained silent, which tells you everything you needed to know on the issue. I have every confidence that if, for some reason, we didn’t take control of the House, Adam Smith and the Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee would do nothing to try to interfere with the U.S.-based command being constructed in Huntsville.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis pushed back on the notion in a post to X.
“Colorado is the rightful home for Space Command, no matter who occupies the White House. Colorado’s space and military assets are critical to our national security,” the governor said. “Colorado is the premier location for our service members and their families to train, live, work, and retire. We will fiercely defend and have bipartisan support for Colorado’s military community.”