re: Some guesses
It could some kind of system to knock out other satellites- a killer satellite.
That could be kinda of dumb and dangerous- but maybe neccessary depending on how you read the tea leaves of classified intel. It also makes political sense for these Dems to speak out against this [even if they *actually* believe it may be needed for national security- can't politically lose anything and there is much potential political gain for them being on record publicly opposed to it].