Sen. Britt Fights Biden Attempt to Move Space Command from Alabama

Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) urged Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to uphold the decision to move U.S. Space Command’s headquarters to Alabama after reports broke that President Joe Biden administration’s may stop the move due to the state’s abortion law.

NBC News reported on Monday that the White House is “laying the groundwork to halt plans to move U.S. Space Command’s headquarters to Alabama in part because of concerns about the state’s restrictive abortion law,” citing two U.S. officials and one U.S. defense official familiar with the discussion.

As NBC News reported:

The White House directed the Air Force last December to conduct a review of the process that led to the Trump administration’s decision to move Space Command’s headquarters from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama.

The review was ordered up in the months after Alabama’s law banning nearly all abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, went into effect last summer. The law is considered among the most restrictive in the U.S.

“The belief is they are delaying any move because of the abortion issue,” one U.S. official told NBC News.

“This is all about abortion politics,” another U.S. official told the outlet.

However, two reviews after Biden entered office found “there was no improper political influence on the process that awarded the headquarters to Alabama.”

Still, a White House official told NBC News that “access to reproductive health care does not weigh in to making the decision about location,” the outlet reported.

Worried by reports of Biden’s politicization of the U.S. military, Britt directly made the case to Austin during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing about why the administration should stand by the decision to relocate Space Command’s headquarters to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Britt noted that Redstone Arsenal “finished first in both the Air Force’s Evaluation Phase and the Selection Phase,” leaving “no doubt that the Air Force’s decision to choose Redstone as the preferred basing location was correct and it was done on the merits.”

She called the reports about the Biden administration politicizing the process “deeply disturbing.”

She also praised Huntsville’s standard of life rankings.

Britt told Austin:

When you look at the City of Huntsville in the past two years, they have been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the number 1 and number 2 place to live in the United States. The city has also been ranked number 3 in the most affordable places to live in the country, the number 3 city nationwide for best quality of life, and number 4 as the most prosperous place in America, and I could go on about Huntsville and all of the city’s accolades.

“The bottom line is not only that Huntsville’s workforce is best-prepared to support Space Command’s mission – and also the City of Huntsville is the best place for Space Command’s workforce to thrive and live the American Dream,” Britt continued.

Britt said keeping Space Command’s headquarters on Redstone Arsenal “undoubtedly remains in the best national security interest of the United States.”

“You referenced earlier in your remarks the build-up of China in both space and cyberspace. My colleague across the aisle said Xi Jinping says that the U.S. has a flawed and failing political system. Do not prove him right,” Britt told Austin. “Urge the President to take the politics out of this. Do what is best for making sure we are ready and capable to face China on all fronts.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.