Senator Tommy Tuberville has invited President Biden to visit the Rocket City in the political back and forth over the space command’s location.
Space Command has been a big headline this week after an NBC report claiming President Biden is considering reversing the decision to move space command to Huntsville. Some defense and congressional officials believe the White House is laying the groundwork to halt plans to move the Space Command’s headquarters here partly because of concerns about the state’s restrictive abortion law.
Without a military hospital, women and dependents of the military personnel moving with space command headquarters would have to go out of state for an abortion.
However, regardless of this, Tuberville is urging Biden to visit and see for himself why Huntsville comes out on top.
“If it goes to space, it’s a good bet it came from Huntsville, Alabama,” Tuberville said. “That’s why three separate government reviews said Huntsville is the best place for space command, and so today, I want to challenge President Joe Biden – come to Huntsville.”
Former U.S. Congressman Parker Griffith believes Alabama’s two senators have not been ready for the big leagues of Washington and are not helping the situation. Tuberville is standing firm with his holds on Department of Defense nominations because of its abortion policy.
Its actions like this that Griffith said are making Space Com an uphill battle. Senator Katie Britt has already asked the Secretary of Defense to “Take the politics out” of the decision to move Space Com headquarters.
Griffith said this is impossible, considering any decision by Washington is political.
“Decisions in politics are made based on politics, so we’re learning a lesson; it makes a difference who you send to Washington – you can’t send the high school team to play the pros,” Griffith said.
Griffith said the two senators have yet to play nice with President Biden or Washington, so why should they expect to be rewarded with Space Com? Because even though Huntsville has come out on top in every review, Colorado Springs has an almost fully operational Space Com. Griffith said the bottom line of politics is power, and at the end of the day, Griffith said President Biden is the one with the power, and Biden coming to Huntsville would likely not change anything.
“The president sees the voting numbers; the president hears what our governor has said; Biden has heard what our legislature has done. There’s no reason for Biden to want to come.”
Stick with WAAY 31 for updates on Space Command.