COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KXRM) — On Wednesday afternoon, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet shared on the Senate floor his reasons to keep Space Command in Colorado.

“I’m on the floor today to remind people here of the importance of this issue, the urgency of this issue, not just for Colorado, not even for Colorado, but for the country as a whole and for our national security as a whole,” Bennet said.

After recent current events, Bennet called out the need to keep Space Command from relocation.

“Especially in the wake now of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Bennet said. “Nothing is more important than making sure that we get to full operational capability and that we do it in a way that makes sense.”

Jim Lovewell, chief operating officer of the Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Corporation, expressed appreciation for Bennet’s support.

“We appreciate the support of the entire Colorado congressional delegation because they keep this going,” Lovewell said. “They keep this discussion going for us and support for keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs.”

Lovewell also shared his gratitude to the men and women serving and protecting our country.

“We have a lot of people serving here, and what I’d like to encourage viewers to do is just to keep in mind when they see those inputs in the news, be it a balloon or other things going on in space, there are a lot of men and women sacrificing time and effort to take care of those very important missions for national security,” Lovewell said.

While speaking on the Senate floor, Bennet stated several reasons to not relocate Space Command. One point he shared was how it would be more cost-effective to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs at Peterson Space Force Base.

“We’ve been a great home to Space Command,” Bennet said. “But I will also say that the months and months and months that we have dedicated, the years that we have dedicated to analyzing this decision, I think it is fair to say that we are here not representing the parochial interests of our state but representing the national security interests of the United States.”

Lovewell was also in agreement that keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs would not waste taxpayer money.

“We believe we have a very compelling reason based on national security interests getting Space Command to full operational capability fastest, saving unnecessary taxpayer dollars, and many more of those reasons we talked about.”

Bennet ended his statement by addressing the importance of a decision to be made on the location of Space Command.

“It’s critically important for us to give the people that are serving in this capacity a sense of security and a sense of stability about what the choice is going to be,” Bennet said.