This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
After declaring the Colorado delegation was “united in fighting to reverse” President Trump’s decision to move Space Command headquarters out of Colorado Springs, Colorado’s congressional Republicans said late last week that they “are working with the Administration to minimize the impacts of this move.”
In a glass-half-full statement as the news and its implications settled, the Republicans said they’re only expecting to lose 1,000 positions, instead of 1,700.
“This marks a significant improvement from the original projection and a positive outcome for our state. Further, important operational elements of Space Command will remain in Colorado Springs, preserving much of the economic driver for our region,” GOP Reps. Jeff Crank, Lauren Boebert, Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd said in a statement Friday evening.
They added that the move will take years to complete and that during that time, the Defense Department’s “presence in Colorado is expected to continue its rapid growth,” including the number of Space Force personnel, which should outpace any loss.
(On Friday, President Trump signed an order giving the Defense Department a ‘secondary title’ of Department of War, but he can not officially change the name without Congressional approval.)
The Republicans noted that in recent years, the number of Space Force personnel in Colorado has increased by 1,500, and 500 more positions are expected in the coming years.
Boebert said the numbers came from both the White House and the Air Force.
When asked if the headquarters move was a done deal, Boebert told CPR News, “It seems that way.”
“It's unfortunate to see Space Command go, but we will still have a presence in Colorado,” Boebert said. “A lot of Golden Dome opportunities there. The majority of Space Force is in Colorado, and that's going to continue to grow. We're not losing our defense and aerospace industries. I believe that there's still many more opportunities for that, and we will continue to fight for more missions.”
She added she’d also like to see more non-military federal offices relocate to red parts of Colorado, including potentially the BLM headquarters or “other federal offices out of Denver and into areas that actually support President Trump and aren't going against his agenda.”
Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said he’s been in close contact with Rep. Crank and other members of the state’s delegation.
“I do not expect to see a dramatic or immediate change in economic impact from this decision, and I’m confident Colorado Springs will continue to see growth in our aerospace and defense industries,” Mobolade said in a statement. He plans on heading to D.C. next week to advocate for the city with federal partners.
Gov. Jared Polis said he was disappointed with what he called a “politically motivated decision” by Trump.
“Keeping Space Command in Colorado is what’s best for national security, but the President made this decision,” Polis said in a statement. “Colorado is home to one of the strongest aerospace and defense industries in the country, and I know that it will only continue to grow stronger – creating more jobs and economic growth for Coloradans.”
Not all Democrats are willing to wave the white flag yet.
“We're going to look at mechanisms through the appropriations process, through the defense budget, to try to slow it down as much as we possibly can, because that's the right thing to do for our troops,” said Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, who serves on the House Armed Services committee. That approach may not get much traction, though. Alabama representatives sit on the Appropriations committee, unlike Colorado lawmakers, while the chair of the House Armed Services committee is also an Alabamian.
CPR News reached out to the Defense Department, which had no update on a timeline for a move beyond what President Trump said at the announcement last Tuesday.
Alabama Rep. Dale Strong told CPR News that construction of a new Space Command headquarters is expected to take 14 to 18 months. He said the site had been picked out. But there are also other factors at play, like congressional funding for construction.
In their letter, Colorado’s Republicans wrote they’d been reassured nothing would happen quickly.
"We have also confirmed the move will take significant time to complete, and in the intervening years, the Department of War's presence in Colorado is expected to continue its rapid growth,” they wrote, adding that that growth would outpace the loss of Space Command headquarters jobs.
Still, one congressional source with knowledge of the conversations said they didn’t put much stock in the number of jobs the Air Force said it would keep in Colorado.
“I’m not convinced they know the difference between 500 positions or 5,000,” they said, adding there was a lack of details from what units or jobs would move and what would stay in the state.
The source, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, added that while the delegation is split on the way forward, they’re giving Crank, whose district will be most directly impacted, some room to maneuver to bring other military elements to the state to make up for the loss of headquarters.
Crank’s office did not respond to questions about if he would continue to fight the move, and if so, how.
Still, another source familiar with the discussions and granted anonymity to speak candidly, said there are some people in Colorado Springs who thought the Republican lawmakers could have used their votes in a narrowly divided House as leverage to “put this off.”
“They’re trying to deflect, saying ‘we’re going to bring all this other stuff,” the source said. “The stuff they’re talking about, like an extra thousand jobs in Space Force over the last five years, that’s stuff that was happening anyway.”
Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser has said he was prepared to sue to stop the move.
“It’s wholly inappropriate and legally suspect for the president to decide the location of Space Command HQ based on how Colorado exercises its power under the U.S. Constitution to run our elections and our mail voting system,” he said in a statement, referring to Trump’s statement that his decision was made in part because Colorado uses all-mail ballots.
