On Wednesday, California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman filed a bill to abolish the U.S. Space Force, which he describes as “flagrantly” wasteful.
The Space Force was established by former President Donald Trump in 2019. Though it is the smallest branch of the Armed Forces, it’s been widely slammed by progressives for having 16,000 personnel and costing billions of dollars a year.
Huffman’s No Militarization of Space Act would axe the Space Force completely. “The long-standing neutrality of space has fostered a competitive, non-militarized age of exploration every nation and generation has valued since the first days of space travel. But since its creation under the former Trump administration, the Space Force has threatened longstanding peace and flagrantly wasted billions of taxpayer dollars,” Huffman said in a statement.
“Our mission must be to support the American people, not spend billions on the militarization of space,” Huffman continued, saying that money going toward the Space Force would be better spent fighting the climate crisis, COVID-19 and inequality in the U.S. Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Illinois) and Maxine Waters (D-California) joined Huffman in introducing the bill.
Before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, progressive lawmakers wrote a letter to the incoming administration asking officials to eliminate the Space Force, criticizing its formation for being unnecessary and for further militarizing the U.S, which is already immersed in a culture of endless war.
“Maybe, just maybe, we should make sure our people are not dying because they lack health insurance before we start spending billions to militarize outer space,” wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) in 2018.
The Space Force is tasked with gathering military intelligence from space and monitoring and transmitting GPS signals from satellites — but although the force has now been in existence for over a year, its function is not exactly clear as yet.
In 2018, retired astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) pointed out that the U.S. already had an arm of the military serving the same purpose as the Space Force: the Air Force Space Command, which was reorganized and reformed into its own branch.
A press release on the Huffman bill says that the formation of a separate Space Force “creat[ed] bureaucratic confusion and further waste.” The branch received $15.4 billion in funding for the fiscal year 2021, though it was taken from the Air Force budget. The bill directs the Space Force to be reabsorbed into the Air Force.
Critics worry that the Space Force’s existence as its own separate entity will eventually lead to further funding for the Defense Department. “Militarizing space is an unconscionable waste of billions of tax dollars, and it risks extending the worst mistakes of history to the final frontier by inviting conflict and escalation,” said Sean Vitka, senior policy counsel for Demand Progress. “Americans don’t want more wasteful military spending, which means Congress should pass the No Militarization of Space Act before the Space Force budget inevitably skyrockets.”
Political experts have speculated that it is unlikely Biden will support getting rid of the military branch, which has bipartisan approval. Meanwhile, Congress this week is set to authorize the largest budget the Pentagon has ever seen.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy