Relating to A National Emergency Declared By the President on March 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I appreciate so much the Senator from Hawaii's perspective on this really important issue. And it is a really important issue.

I mean, there has been some discussion on the other side about how for 50 years, there has been a consensus in this Chamber about how we treat these issues, ignoring completely what the Dobbs decision has done to this country, which is to strip a 50-year constitutional right--to strip a 50-year constitutional freedom--from the American people. It is the first time since Reconstruction that a right has been stripped from the American people by the Supreme Court. It has been a 50-year crusade--an agenda by the allies of the people across this aisle to accomplish that.

It was a lot earlier today that I heard: Well, I didn't learn that in law school, I didn't learn that in law school, about the First Amendment in their debate about TikTok. Well, when I was in law school, that is when originalism was injected into the bloodstream of conservative legal thought in this country. It had not existed before. It was something that was invented by Justice Scalia when he was a law professor, and it was grabbed onto by a lot of people on the other side of the aisle to justify a deeply conservative view of economic history in America.

I would ask my colleagues to allow me to give the rest of my speech before they use profanity on the floor of the Senate to describe what I am talking about.

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Mr. BENNET. I thank the Presiding Officer.

I am not offended by that. I just think some of the people at home may not want to hear that kind of language on the floor of the Senate-- but that is because they know what I am saying is true about originalism.

Because of their efforts and because they were able to elect Donald Trump, who was not actually read in on the joke, we ended up with three people on the Supreme Court who subscribe to that originalist view and who decided, following Justice Scalia, that if it were not a freedom in 1868, then it is not a freedom in 2023, even though it has been a freedom and a right for the last 50 years in this country.

So don't come here and say that there was somehow a consensus here when that freedom and that right has been stripped from the American people by the Supreme Court.

To my colleague from Alabama, who has left the floor--by the way, just on that point, he has now twice misrepresented my actions on this floor.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) ``has raised the issue of reproductive health care access in his conversations about the Space Command basing decision,'' said one congressional aide, who asked for anonymity to discuss private conversations between Bennet and the Pentagon.

The senator, the aide added, ``has serious concerns about the impact that abortion ban laws have on readiness and our national security.''

It's the latest turn in a saga that's dragged on for three years after Trump personally directed the Air Force to choose Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as the command's permanent headquarters. Alabama and Colorado were the two finalists in the Air Force's search.

The decision, if given the final signoff by the Biden administration, would uproot the fledgling command from its current location at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs. Since the original decision, members of Colorado's delegation in both parties have decried the move to a Trump- friendly state as political favoritism that will delay the organization from achieving full operating status.

``I haven't found any Democratic senator who thinks it's a good idea to allow a precedent to stand that encourages politics to overrule the judgment of our military command,'' Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper said in an interview.

The Biden White House vowed to reassess the choice after lawmakers blasted the basing decision. The Air Force secretary must still determine whether to follow through with Trump's decision or keep the command in Colorado.

The Air Force was expected to announce a final decision at the end of 2022, but the deadline passed with no ruling.

``We don't have anything new on the decision timeline,'' the service said in a statement. The service declined to say why a choice has not been made.

Lawmakers on both sides of the argument say they're in the dark on when the Air Force might finally make a call, but both states' delegations have said they believe they will prevail.

``I do think the delay is, in my view, a positive thing,'' said Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.). ``My read of that is that the administration is taking a harder look and a fresh look at it and revisiting certain elements of the decision. That's what I hope they're doing.''

The commander, Gen. James Dickinson, has said Space Command won't be fully operational until the final basing decision is made. Pros and cons

U.S. Space Command was restarted by the Trump administration in 2019 as it sought to emphasize the importance of the military's space mission, coinciding with the creation of the Space Force. Space Command, which oversees the operations of military space assets and defending satellites, had been its own outfit since the 1980s, but was folded into U.S. Strategic Command following the creation of Northern Command in 2002.

Colorado Springs and Huntsville were two of six finalists selected by the Air Force in late 2020 for the permanent headquarters. The list included military installations in Florida, Nebraska, Texas and New Mexico.

Colorado lawmakers contend permanently keeping Space Command in its temporary home is more efficient and will ultimately prove better for national security because it will be near Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command.

With a large military space presence already in the state, Colorado's leaders argue that politics alone was the deciding factor in the Trump administration selecting Alabama.

They point to comments Trump made after leaving office boasting that he made the call to move Space Command.

``I hope you know that. [They] said they were looking for a home and I single-handedly said `let's go to Alabama.' They wanted it. I said `let's go to Alabama. I love Alabama.' '' Trump said on an Alabama-based radio show in August 2021.

Alabama's almost entirely GOP delegation says Huntsville-- dubbed Rocket City because of the large aerospace industry presence there--checks all the boxes for the new command.

The Pentagon visited each of the six prospective headquarters sites between Dec. 8, 2020, and Jan. 7, 2021, where experts gathered data and refined cost estimates. Those cost estimates were not released publicly, according to the Defense Department's inspector general.

``Democrats said it was political, but the best place to put it is in Huntsville,'' Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said in an interview.

``The only reason you would leave it in Colorado is because that's where it's at right now,'' Tuberville said. ``But we need to make sure it's in the right spot. We have the missile defense. We have Redstone Arsenal, NASA. You name it, we got it.''

Since a headquarters decision was announced in January 2021, both the Defense Department IG and the Government Accountability Office released reports that questioned whether the selection process was adequate.

DoD IG found the Air Force base analysis that was conducted under the Trump administration's direction ``complied with law and policy'' when selecting Alabama as the headquarters location, while the GAO asserted the service's base location analysis had ``significant shortfalls in its transparency and credibility.''

Neither report determined whether Trump meddled in the decision.

Both oversight groups agree a resolution was reached during a White House meeting with highranking officials on Jan. 11, 2021.

Meeting attendees included the former president and top Pentagon leaders who have since left--the acting defense secretary, the vice chair of the Joint Chiefs, the Air Force secretary and the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and energy.

Days before the meeting, the Pentagon received new information that if Colorado was selected the military could renovate a building instead of having to construct a new one to house the new headquarters.

But the Space Force did not deliver an updated estimate to Air Force officials ahead of the White House meeting, according to GAO.

The Pentagon is keeping the cost estimates private and are not included in the GAO report because the information is designated as ``sensitive and privileged.''

Opting for renovation instead of new construction would allow for the command to reach full operational much sooner than the estimated six years.

In interviews with the GAO, the head of Space Command, the top Space Force general, and the former vice Joint Chiefs chair, all said they conveyed in the meeting that the headquarters should remain in Colorado because that was the best way to reach full operational capability as quickly as possible.

Bennet echoed the same concerns during a speech on the Senate floor this month.

It is important the Biden administration not ratify ``a political decision that was made in the last few days of the Trump administration,'' Bennet said, referring to the former president dismissing the counsel of Pentagon officials who recommended the headquarters remain in Colorado.

Bennet underscored it is not only expected to be cheaper and faster to keep Space Command in Colorado, but the military would not have to worry over the number of civilian workers who won't opt to move to Alabama. Roughly 60 percent of the Space Command workforce are civilians, he said.

``Decisions of this importance shouldn't be made this way. It should be in the interest of our national security. And the Biden administration has the opportunity to restore the integrity of this process,'' Bennet said. Renewed fight

The Colorado delegation fought the move when it was initially announced, but had gone quiet in the following months. They rekindled their efforts last month when Hickenlooper and Bennet were the only Democrats to join Republicans in opposition to the confirmation of Brendan Owens, the nominee to oversee facilities and energy programs at the Pentagon. The pair said they opposed him because the Pentagon had brushed off their efforts to meet with Austin to discuss Space Command.

Owens was still confirmed despite most Republicans also opposing him.

Bennet also threatened to hold up other nominees to secure a meeting with Austin. Hickenlooper and Bennet met with Austin to discuss the decision on Jan. 26, though no resolution was reached.

``He's got a lot on his plate, so he wasn't versed in the details of the issue,'' Hickenlooper said. ``But he listened very thoughtfully and I think he took it very seriously.''

But Bennet continued to press the issue. A spokesperson said Bennet placed a hold on Ravi Chaudhary, Biden's nominee to oversee Air Force installations. He dropped the hold this month after meeting separately with Chaudhary and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall where he ``reiterated his longstanding concerns'' with the basing decision. The behind- the-scenes maneuvering has not been previously reported.

Some opponents are also highlighting how the climate in the U.S. has changed since an initial decision was made in January 2021. Many Democrats are unsettled by moving service members from a blue to a red state after the Supreme Court dealt a blow to abortion rights last year.

With the end of nationwide federal protections for abortion, many Democrats have raised the impacts on troops stationed in states where the procedure is now banned or significantly limited. Bennet has publicly raised similar concerns in the proposed Space Command move.

''I'm deeply concerned about how the Dobbs decision and state abortion bans will affect Space Command's workforce and readiness if the command leaves Colorado,'' Bennet said in a statement to Military.com in August.

Another driver for the Biden administration to keep the headquarters in Colorado and not move to a conservative state are rights for LGBTQ people.

``It's hard not to think about the dramatically more hostile environment in Alabama when it comes to reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights,'' said one Democratic aide. ``It'll mean many of the civilians who work for Space Command may not move with it. And service members will be forced to move somewhere where they'll lose those rights.''

Though both Tuberville and Hickenlooper downplayed the role the Supreme Court decision would play in the basing move, the impact on troops has been in focus after the reversal of abortion protections under Roe v. Wade.

Even Austin, who is usually not outspoken on political issues, moved to shore up troops' access for abortion. He issued a memo in October directing the Pentagon to pay for service members to travel costs for abortions, though not for the procedure itself, arguing the ``practical effects of recent changes'' in laws will hurt military readiness.

Formal policies issued this month cover travel costs for obtaining abortions as well as administrative leave, as many troops are stationed in states where the procedure is now illegal.

Tuberville was among the GOP lawmakers who slammed the move. He vowed to hold up civilian Pentagon nominations as well as top military promotions over the new policy.

The issue, however, isn't purely about red states vs. blue states. If Space Command doesn't move to Alabama, the headquarters will remain in reliably conservative Colorado Springs. The area and its military assets are represented by Republican Doug Lamborn, who chairs the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee. Lamborn has also criticized the move as one of political favoritism over national security needs.

The state's other two Republican House members, Reps. Ken Buck and Lauren Boebert, have also protested the decision and signed several letters with Democrats arguing to keep the command in Colorado.

Yet if the Biden administration decides to reverse the earlier decision, it could open itself up to criticism that it's making a political call, just like the Trump White House. A reversal also would draw push back from Alabama's delegation, including Rep. Mike Rogers, who has new tools at his disposal as the House Armed Services Committee chair.

In the meantime, Alabama lawmakers are confident the Trump administration's decision will be upheld.

``Nobody's saying, but they've done several more reviews on it in the last two years,'' Tuberville said of the final decision. ``And we've pretty much passed all the tests.''

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Mr. BENNET. I want to thank--he is gone--the Senator from Alabama for finding an article about me in Politico because it is so seldom that any article is written about me. I am grateful that he has called attention to it. He is not here for me to say thank you for that.

But he is now on the floor, doing something that no Senator has ever done--holding up every single flag officer's promotion in this country--180 of them or so, now maybe 600 of them. We have the head of the Seventh Fleet and the head of the Fifth Fleet. These are vital offices that he is holding up.

He just said: We have got enough generals. We have enough generals.

Why is he doing it? Why is he doing it? He is doing it because he is offended by a regulation that the Department of Defense has promulgated in the wake of the Dobbs decision of reversing Roe v. Wade--stripping the American people of this fundamental right, stripping the American people of this fundamental right. In the wake of that, the Secretary of Defense had the nerve to say: If you are serving--through no decision that you have made--in a State like Alabama which banned abortion and you have to travel to another State to get an abortion, we will pay for that travel--travel.

If you need a little bit of extra time, the regulations say, before you go to your commanding officer and tell them that you have to have a medical procedure, like abortion, it gives you a little extra time to do that.

The third thing it does is that it says that if you have to leave the State of Alabama because you can't have access to abortion there, then you don't have to use paid leave.

Those are the three things this rule does. I am coming to an end, Mr. President. That is all it does. That is all it does.

In his world, he would like to have a place where people did not have their travel paid for, they had to use their paid leave, and they had to tell their commanding officer immediately. That is the America he wants to live in because he lives in a State--

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Mr. BENNET. I would ask the Senate for 30 more seconds.

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Mr. BENNET. Thank you.

He is entitled to his opinion, certainly, and the State of Alabama has a totally different approach to a woman's right to choose than Colorado does, and I respect that even though we differ. But in Alabama, there are no exceptions for rape or incest. In Alabama, if you are a doctor who has committed an abortion, you could go to jail for 99 years. In Alabama, they are trying to say that those women who use chemicals that many women use--

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Mr. BENNET.--to end their abortion--all we are saying is--

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Mr. BENNET.--we need to recognize what has happened since Dobbs, and we need----
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