TOPICS
TOPICS
Lawmakers weigh fate of Walter Reed
As House lawmakers worked Thursday to halt the planned closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., proposed a more modest change in the military's plans.
The former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Thursday he wanted to accelerate construction projects at two other Washington-area military hospitals, which would absorb Walter Reed patients when the facility closes in 2011. Doing so would provide a "seamless turnover" for wounded troops, Warner said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Army's fiscal 2008 budget proposal.
Warner also warned against overturning the base closure law to keep Walter Reed open, arguing that it would be a precedent-setting move that would spur lawmakers to try to halt other base closings. "I think it makes great sense," acting Army Secretary Preston (Pete) Geren said of Warner's proposal.
The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved an amendment to the fiscal 2007 supplemental spending bill that would delay Walter Reed's closure until the end of the war. It passed as part of a manager's package of amendments.
"This was a dumb, dumb thing," Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., the amendment's sponsor, said of the decision to close Walter Reed. Many of the base closing decisions "were dumb," he said, "but this was the dumbest."
COMMENTS
- I couldn't have said it better, Ted. The same people who are responsible for breakdowns in federal services are the ones who have the tantrums and will not accept responsibility for their actions. As someone who works in a BRAC listed facility, we cannot make plans for the future because the democratically controlled Congress is playing power games with a Republican president by reducing BRAC funding. Gee, isn't the Democratic Party supposed to be for the working class? And I don't believe the excuse about paying for the war in Iraq. How about cutting funding to social programs that are throwing good money after bad? Not only will I have to take an early retirement penalizing me on age, I may not get the incentive bonus that is supposed to compensate for my monetary penalty. Federal jobs in my area are few and far between. I agree, get 'am all out! GovExec.com reader Posted March 19, 2007 1:09 PM
- They should expedite building up DeWitt (Ft. Belvior, on the Virginia side of the District), and then go ahead and expedite closing Walter Reed. Having the only two major military hospitals only a few miles apart makes no sense. Of course, then the Democrats couldn't play as many political games for as long (and I said Democrats just because that happens to be the label of the non-representatives in control right now, if it was reversed, it would be the Republicans making all this noise). If Congress would spend this much time taking care of the country, we would not have near so many problems. In the future, re-elect no one. Send them all home. Ted Posted March 19, 2007 11:54 AM
