Armed services committees differ on space, adding troops

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate Armed Services committees took significantly different approaches in their annual Pentagon policy bills, setting up what could be difficult negotiations this year.

Among the biggest differences in the bills is how each approached space defense programs. The House panel advanced legislation that would create a new military service focused on space, operated by the Air Force, called Space Corps.

The proposal has the backing of committee Republicans and Democrats alike.

The Senate panel, however, chose only to lengthen the required term of the commander of Air Force Space Command to six years. The goal, a Senate committee aide said, is to give the commander enough time to put more of a strategic focus on space.

“There’s nothing in the (committee report) dealing with Space Corps,” the aide said. The committee will not release the full text of the bill until Congress returns from its Independence Day recess.

While Space Corps advanced out of the House committee with bipartisan support, the program also faced bipartisan scrutiny Wednesday during the House’s markup session and is opposed by Air Force Secretary Heather A. Wilson.

The committees also disagreed over troop-level increases, with the House bill adding 17,000 soldiers to the Army while Senate legislation would add just 6,000.

The committees did find common ground, however, by authorizing billions of dollars in defense spending above the legal limit allowed by the Budget Control Act, with the House and Senate panels setting funding levels of $696 billion and $700 billion, respectively.

Both figures include $8 billion outside of the committees’ jurisdiction that is not included in the bill, according to a Senate Armed Services document.