Subcommittee votes to repeal 2005 base closing plan

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness approved its portion of the defense authorization bill (H.R. 1588) by voice vote Friday, recommending increased spending for many programs and adopting a Democrat-sponsored amendment to repeal a round of military base closures authorized to take place in 2005.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., who sponsored the amendment, noted that the House has never had the chance to vote on the 2005 round of base realignments and closures (BRAC) "as a stand-alone measure."

The 2005 BRAC round was authorized in the fiscal 2002 defense authorization law, despite opposition from most House members. "We were never given an opportunity to strip [the BRAC provision] from the defense authorization bill," said Taylor, whose amendment was adopted by voice vote.

The underlying bill would provide about $1 billion more to operations and maintenance accounts across all of the services than President Bush requested in his fiscal 2004 budget request. Subcommittee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said Bush's budget had under-funded some "key areas" affecting military forces and combat systems.

"During our oversight hearings this year, we heard from each of the services and department witnesses that there was risk in the readiness areas of the president's budget," Hefley said. "Even though the budget was built as a peacetime budget, which may later be supplemented for wartime costs, our assessment was that the risk was too great."

The legislation also would authorize $668 million more for depot maintenance across the services, and $244 million more for spare parts accounts, than Bush's budget request. "Given the significant and unique work that the depots will be called up to perform following recent deployments, the subcommittee believes additional resources will be required," Hefley said.

The subcommittee also recommended increasing the military construction and family housing budget by about $500 million. Hefley said more than $100 million of that increase would be transferred from the Defense Department's chemical demilitarization construction program to military construction accounts.

"Nevertheless, the subcommittee used the remaining $400 million to boost military construction and family housing budgets in order to address some of our greatest readiness and quality of life concerns," Hefley said.

Prior to approving the bill, the panel adopted by voice vote another Taylor amendment concerning the Combined Arms Maneuver Area at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Taylor said that amendment would ensure that combat arms training at the installation would be conducted in compliance with the "spirit and intent" of the nation's environmental laws.

The subcommittee also approved, by unanimous consent, an amendment by Del. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, modifying a provision that would create a pilot program relating to invasive species at military installations. The subcommittee recommended authorizing the program for three years, but Bordallo's amendment extended it to five years.