“It’s like looking for Christmas for a long time. We’re very happy that Christmas finally came.”

That was Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle’s initial reaction to President Donald Trump’s announcement that U.S. Space Command’s headquarters is coming to Huntsville.

The ultimate Christmas present is the number of jobs it may bring. Just how many? The president said 30,000 during Tuesday’s press conference, a number repeated by White House spokesperson Anna Kelly.

“We would never argue with the president,” the mayor told AL.com. “Everybody’s got to remember, this is over a period of time. Over the period of five years, whatever it brings to us, there could be additional people coming. There could be a spinoff effect.”

Battle said the city was expecting between 1,200 to 1,600 direct jobs. U.S

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