Nukewatch Quarterly Winter 2021-2022
The “No Militarization of Space Act” was introduced in September 2021 by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif. The bill would abolish the new “Space Force,” established in 2019 as a new military branch. “Since its creation … the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Huffman. According to former astronaut and Democratic junior Senator from Arizona Mark Kelly, any threats in space are already taken care of in the US Air Force,” and it “doesn’t make sense to build a whole other level of bureaucracy in an incredibly bureaucratic [Pentagon].” However, the redundant Space Force currently has Republican and Democrat supporters — based on the voting numbers that established the branch — leading Taxpayers for Common Sense, the National Taxpayers Union, Peace Action, R Street Institute, Demand Progress and others to endorse the bill. “The Space Force has quickly become a taxpayer boondoggle,” said Andrew Lautz of the TPU. The Biden administration endorsed Space Force with in a statement in February 2021, but Rep. Huffman encourages a return to earth: “Our mission must be to support the American people, not spend billions on the militarization of space.”
— Govtrackinsider.com, Sep. 30, 2021; American Military News, Sep. 24; Huffman.hour.gov, Sep. 22,2021, The Hill, Aug. 9, 2018
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