Republicans Crank, Strong create House Golden Dome caucus

WASHINGTON — Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., today announced the creation, in partnership with Rep. Dale Strong, R-Ala., of a Golden Dome caucus in the House of Representatives to promote President Donald Trump’s plan to build an air and missile defense shield over the United States.

“Golden Dome is going to be a generational leap forward in the defense of the homeland, and I think as as members of Congress, we need to be ready to do that,” Crank told the Hudson Institute. “The president wants Golden Dome deployed in three years now. To do that, he’s going to need strong support from Congress and the House. The Golden Dome caucus, I think, is going to help lead the charge in that support for the president.”

Crank, who is a freshman representing Colorado’s fifth congressional district —  including Colorado Springs, home to Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, North American Aerospace Defense Command, and, currently, US Space Command (SPACECOM) headquarters — is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Strong is a member of the Homeland Security Committee, and represents Alabama’s fifth district that is home to the Army’s Redstone Arsenal, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and the presumptive new home for SPACECOM.

“I’ve had several folks in Congress who have challenged whether Golden Dome is technically feasible,” Crank added. “And from every combatant commander that I’ve talked to, and others, they say: ‘Yes, it is technically feasible. We’re going to have to invest lots of resources to get this done, … and my answer to that is, everything America has ever done that’s worthy of of greatness was hard to do.”

He said that the new caucus would be working in partnership with the Senate-side caucus, announced by Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., on May 13, and “serve as an opportunity to host open and classified briefings for members of Congress to hear from military leadership on Golden Dome, industry partners and, of course, think tanks.”

Crank said that while he hopes the caucus eventually will be bipartisan, at the moment he and Strong are the only members.

“I’ve talked to a couple of Democrat members of of Congress about joining the caucus. I mean, we’re not, we’re not there yet. We’re just forming it right? So Dale Strong and I have are the only ones that have really talked about membership, but I think we’re going to get there,” he said. “It’s a harder sell for them in this sort of hyper-partisan environment that we’re in right now.”