Pentagon relents in standoff over military construction bill

The House Appropriations Committee has put the fiscal 2005 Military Construction spending bill back on track after the uniformed service chiefs agreed to testify before the panel this month.

That testimony is expected to begin with Chief of Naval Operations Vern Clark as early as next week, at a hearing originally scheduled for Thursday that has been postponed due to funeral ceremonies for former President Reagan.

The Pentagon's decision to allow the service chiefs to testify ends a nearly three-month standoff that has put the Military Construction appropriations bill, originally expected to be among the first to clear Congress along with the Defense and Homeland Security spending bills, somewhere in the middle of the pack.

House Appropriations Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., and ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., told Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in an April 8 letter they would be unable to consider the Military Construction appropriations bill if the service chiefs did not testify.

"The decision not to testify before the subcommittee was ill-advised and indicates to this committee that the department is unable to defend the president's military construction budget request," Young and Obey wrote.

"It would be regrettable if the committee were unable to report legislation that provides an appropriation for any office or activity for which the department has chosen not to send the appropriate administration officials to testify before the Congress," they added.

Concerns over the next round of military base closures led appropriators to request testimony in person from the top officers in each branch of the military, a panel aide said. A Pentagon official said Monday that the agency did not oppose allowing the service chiefs to testify, but that it required more logistical planning to schedule their appearances than simply sending installations experts, as they had in previous years.

"There is a normal rhythm of people who testify during the appropriations process," the official said. "This year, as opposed to having the normal installations people, the requests went to the service chiefs -- it took a while to react to a request that was not a normal request."

The House Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee has received a fiscal 2005 allocation of $10 billion, which is $687 million more than the fiscal 2004 enacted level and $450 million more than the administration's request.

Competition for earmarked funds in the bill is expected to be stiff, particularly in an election year, since the amount bases receive could be a factor in eventual base closing decisions.

The administration is planning a new round of base closures at the same time the Pentagon is conducting a "global posture review," an effort that will determine the military's future force structure overseas and identify forces that will return to domestic military installations from bases that are closed overseas.

The planned base closures have led to an outcry from many lawmakers, particularly in the House, which voted as part of its defense authorization bill to retain a two-year delay of the next base closing and realignment round.

Some lawmakers have expressed concern that if domestic bases are closed, there may not be ample infrastructure to accommodate troops returning from overseas.

The issue could also complicate matters in the Senate. According to a spokesman, Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is waiting for results from the global posture review and will hold a hearing before marking up its version. Amy Klamper contributed to this report.