Congress, White House near deal to create Space Force in exchange for paid leave for federal workers

[demmiblue]

Source: WaPo

Congressional lawmakers and the White House are on the verge of reaching a sweeping agreement that would extend 12 weeks of paid parental leave to federal workers in exchange for making “Space Force” the sixth branch of the U.S. military, according to four people with knowledge of the tentative deal.

The deal is part of a defense authorization bill that is slated to pass this month. If consummated, the agreement could mark one of the biggest deals President Trump has cut with Congress. It would secure a massive expansion of benefits for federal workers, something Democrats have long sought, in exchange for a realignment of the U.S. military that Trump has sought to secure as part of his legacy.

Multiple people close to the negotiations stressed any final package must still be approved, and Trump has been known to change his mind even when negotiations reach a final stage. The president could also be more eager to cement the deal than fiscal-hawk conservative Republicans in Congress, who might complain about the cost.

Still, some top White House officials were already celebrating the possible addition of a new federal paid leave policy.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/12/06/congress-white-house-near-deal-create-space-force-exchange-paid-leave-federal-workers/

[rzemanfl]

1. Please tell me this is from the Onion not the WaPo. n/t

[JoeOtterbein]

20. +1000! nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. I think Democrats should reject it. Chances very good they can get fed leave enacted in 2021.

We do not need to further militarize outer space. Or give tRump any kind of legacy.

Chances are good Democrats will win both chambers and the Presidency in 2020.

[oldsoftie]

12. The problem is that China & Russia are already doing it.

And if we hide our heads in the sand all our satellites will be hostage to whatever they do. Its a sad state of affairs, but one that we must respond to.
Otherwise, one day all our communications & GPS could be taken out and we'd be powerless to do anything about it
We have to always look ahead or we're left behind

[lapfog_1]

28. There is no way either the Russians or the Chinese would take out the GPS system

Because they use it.

Our communication system, possibly.

[jpak]

44. Russia has their own GPS system GLONASS

and China has their own BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

And Russia routinely jams our GPS in Norway.

[Flaleftist]

31. What's wrong with the Air Force Space Command?

Why can't they do what the Space Force would do?

Creating a new branch of the military seems unnecessary when they can simply expand the part of the Air Force that already handles space issues.

[oldsoftie]

34. I was mostly responding to the comment that we shouldnt weaponize space.

Actually I agree with you; theres really no need to have another branch when the AF could just expand what their doing

[jmowreader]

43. There's a joint-service Space Command already

But to answer your question, there's a lot Space Force will do that US Space Command can't. Unfortunately, all those things revolve around stroking Trump's ego and giving him more ways to funnel government money to himself and his friends.

[politicaljunkie41910]

45. I recall when the Space Force and the Space Command were designated as such and

have been around for awhile now. I read about these agencies in my local newspaper so they weren't a mystery to me. Their names may have changed but some of what they do, they've been doing for decades. I recall reading when their names were changed, and the purpose of designating them as the Space Command and the Space Force, back when they did a while back. I assumed it was because the missions they were performing were growing in scope as technology developed, and the change in designation (my guess) was to recognize that change in the scope of their mission by putting them on par with other branches of the military.

Also, much of what has been done by those two commands in the recent past is likely cutting edge technology, and often highly classified, I presume; so it probably doesn't get much public scrutiny. But I can recall reading about up and coming projects in various publications; and particularly the renaming of the Space Command and the Space Force, and I live in an area where occasionally you might see strange objects in the sky at night; so it's never been a mystery to me.

[LaurenOlimina]

51. Space Command ended in 2002.

It's part of the reason for an upgrade now. Space assets are not getting equal time in the fighter-obsessed Air Force. Space Command will encompass the Space Command recreated this spring.

[link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Command#First_U.S._Space_Command:_1985%E2%80%932002|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Command#First_U.S._Space_Command:_1985%E2%80%932002
]

Active 23 September 1985 – 1 October 2002[1]
29 August 2019 – present
Country United States

It was originally created in September 1985 to coordinate the use of outer space by the United States Armed Forces.[4] The commander-in-chief of U.S. Space Command (CINCUSSPACECOM) also functioned as the commander-in-chief of the binational U.S.–Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (CINCNORAD), and for the majority of time during USSPACECOM's existence, was also the commander of Air Force Space Command.

The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law in 2018, directed the reestablishment of U.S. Space Command as a sub-unified combatant command under U.S. Strategic Command. Space Command was officially reestablished on August 29, 2019.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Trump thinks he's Buck Rogers

a brain that's back in the 1930s again

[logosoco]

4. We do need a bigger better space "force" but putting it under the department of defense

does not seem wise. NASA is independent and this should fall under/be an extension of that. Putting it in with defense just seems to invite future problems and what we need is knowledge.

And why is this tied in with the paid leave of federal workers? Sounds cheap. As is often the case with rich people.

Maybe we need a department of Science.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. tRump is holding workers hostage to his re-election platform and legacy. Abuse of Power. . . nt

[pazzyanne]

13. Looks like a little "quid pro quo" if you ask me.

[onenote]

16. Actually it looks like traditional legislative horse trading

Let's not start diminishing the significance of Trump's Ukraine abuse by treating normal events as illegal acts.

[pazzyanne]

19. I was replying to Bernardo de la Paz's post which states:

"tRump is holding workers hostage to his re-election platform and legacy. Abuse of Power"

In no way am I equating this to the impeachment narrative.

[onenote]

24. What Trump did with respect to the Ukraine was a blatant abuse of power

Legislative horse trading is not.

[DENVERPOPS]

26. A "little" ??????

They tried this forty years ago with Reagan's "star wars" and we all saw how that ended didn't we??????

"Little" does not begin to describe the fact that they will pour TRILLIONS, down this rabbit hole to help out the Defense contractors, stock holders, and politicians......

And they only got leave for federal workers in exchange??????? Doesn't look like a good deal to me.......

[Wawannabe]

27. THANK YOU

And only for Federal workers. What about the rest of us parents? Money down the drain is so correct and we should not give tRump ANY deals.

[DENVERPOPS]

46. The house dems

should not agree with ANYTHING. PERIOD. The Senate Repubs and Trump don't need the dems, so let them do it all on their own.
That way they can't declare that the House Dems were in on it.........The time is long long over for bi-partisan Any F***ing Thing

[pazzyanne]

38. Maybe I should have used the sarcasm emoji.

[Firestorm49]

5. "Fiscal Hawk Conservative Republicans in Congress", oh Lord! Good one!

[Mike 03]

6. The shortest-lived government agency in history.

They shouldn't even bother printing up business cards because in a year "The Space Force" won't be a thing.

[packman]

7. This is the most insane way I EVER heard to create a new agency

Maybe we need a "What the Fuck" agency - funded by increasing taxes on drugs that treat cancer

[AllaN01Bear]

9. quit negotiating with these morans . i really mean it.

[Roy Rolling]

10. Don't Do It Democrats

An effin’ Space Force created out of thin air?

What branch of the military are we gonna close to make way for patrolling the billions of square miles that is “space”.

The U.S. budget will be 99% military expenditures soon if warmongers get their way.

Profiting from war is as immoral as profiting from disease.

[47of74]

11. the kind of morons fornicate face would put in charge of the space force

Are probably the kind of morons that would come across a ship like this with its gun ports open.



They would launch an unprovoked attack on the ship and kill the leader, resulting in the aliens declaring a genocidal holy war against all of humanity.

[cstanleytech]

41. That whole thing never made sense to be me because how could the Earth Force even know

what a Minbari cruisers gun ports look like when opened or closed as their warships ships generally had their large guns exposed on the sides all the time from what I recall.

[Faux pas]

14. Just something else

he and his minions can siphon money out of.

[left-of-center2012]

15. From the linked article

"It would mark a reversal of sorts for the White House,
which has sought to strip pay and benefits from federal workers since Trump took office in 2017."

[in2herbs]

17. Say this is approved, then we have paid leave for federal workers tied to another

bureaucratic department that we can't dissolve when we gain control because of the paid leave clause. How many Ds are supportive of this? It's bad politics and like another poster said, it sounds like a quid pro quo.

[Iliyah]

18. Scam city . . .

for profit, nothing else.

[defacto7]

58. Always

[iluvtennis]

21. Dems shouldn't vote Space Command. Let NASA handle space

exploration, shouldn’t be under military umbrella

Put in a separate bill for paid leave, no reason it needs to be connected to space

[Kaiserguy]

22. Just an all around bad idea

If we really do need something like this ( which I doubt ) it can wait until we have a sane President and Senate to deal with.

[karin_sj]

23. It's all about privatization and money making for select people/companies

There's a LOT of money to be made if this thing passes. It will bring megabucks to those "selected" by Trump and the Repukes to handle the work. Probably And who's going to pay for it? Well, we taxpayers, of course. I'm all for paid leave for federal workers but this is at too big of a cost.

[Sinistrous]

25. When did Federal workers lose their entitlement for paid leave?

When I retired there was an excellent paid leave structure.

[oldsoftie]

35. There still is. Plenty of leave & holidays. Just not 12 weeks family leave.

[Sinistrous]

54. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[SterlingPound]

29. Hell this would be the time for the Dems to hold out for ALL Workers in America

and not just federal workers Demand an Amendment from the GOP first.

[MichMan]

30. Is this only for parents of newborns?

Or does anyone with kids get an extra 12 weeks off per year?

If, so doesn't seem fair for those who are childless. Article doesn't say.

[oldsoftie]

36. You are correct. 60 more days plain leave would be plain thievery.

But I see where you're coming from too.
But its "for the children"!

[imavoter]

55. I believe it would be for just like it says, "paid parental leave"

If you become a parent, you get leave.
So I'm assuming this would be birth and adoptions, etc.

I'm sure there is another article somewhere discussing the leave issue, because, as the article stated,
and what I know to be true is that this is a long time overdue for federal workers.

Also, you have to think about it, if it's good for federal workers, it will eventually come to pass for those in the private sector. I wished things moved faster, but at least it's a start.

[louis-t]

32. Repugs who claim they want smaller government....

and less spending, climb on board to soothe fragile ego of dumbass in chief. AS soon as we get this asshole out of office, dismantle the 'space farce' joke.

[Bayard]

33. If this comes under the Air Force,

Why wouldn't it come out of their budget?

I didn't see in the article which Dems are pushing this. Three months of parental leave for fed workers sounds lovely, but I'd rather see something like, cutting it to 2 months, and spending the rest of the funds on something else which is desperately needed.

Space Force, I haven't made up my mind about yet. tRump's, "legacy" is going to be the insanity and destruction of his time in office.

[B Stieg]

37. This all started right after tRump watched...

Moonraker. Now a whole new moneysuck has been created

[Owl]

39. How much is this stupid space force thing going to cost us taxpayers?

[cstanleytech]

40. I cannot help but think of Trump wearing one of those corny space suits from the old television

television shows.
Of course then again it would not surprise me if Trump thinks he is one of those characters from those shows as his mind is going.

[Rollo]

48. Did they make a spacesuit with spurs?

[sheshe2]

52. This one?

[cstanleytech]

56. More like

?w=976&ssl=1

[yaesu]

42. This is bad in so many ways, working with the fascists to create more fascism, keep this up and we

will lose the House & the presidential election.

[Dem2theMax]

47. Why is it that this is all I feel like doing, all day. Every day.

When do we get to go back to normal?

[nwduke]

49. May the Schwartz be with you!

🤪🤪🤪

[Progressive Jones]

50. Even if "SPACE FORCE" is necessary, it must be denied for Trump.

That a-hole cannot be allowed to claim it as his.

[LaurenOlimina]

53. I'm one of the few people here on DU for this.

It's a win-win for me. I've been hearing about how space assets get sidelined in the Air Force since the 1990s. The USAF tends to favor fighter pilots in command and this ultimately short changes non-combat operations. When Space Command ended in 2002 (17 years ago), it got worse. I think those assets have only grown in importance. We rely on space infrastructure more than ever and our enemies threaten them more than ever. I'm sorry this dufus is the one cheerleading, but it needs to be done.

That plus family leave, sign me up!

[Politicub]

57. This seems to be a stupid deal

Yes, the federal workforce deserves paid parental leave; all American workers do.

But using paid leave as a bargaining chip is beyond shortsighted. This will be a new branch of the military and all that entails.

I’m against this so-called deal.