He is saying the entire vehicle is the satellite.
A satellite, per se, has no intrinsic need to be able to return to earth. If you make the entire X-37B to be “the satellite,” you are talking about, at a minimum, needing to lift ten times the weight into space, which might take 50 times the fuel. That would make for a strong argument to tilt the scales towards having a disposable satellite relative to a reusable one.