By a 66-33 vote, the Senate Wednesday evening overwhelmingly rejected one of President Clinton's top defense priorities, voting down a measure to hold two more base closing rounds in 1999 and 2001. The vote came during Senate debate on the fiscal 1998 Defense authorization bill.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said on Wednesday he and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., plan to offer an amendment to the Defense bill calling for further study and analysis before the federal government goes ahead with another round of base closings.
"We think that given the limited implementation of the last base closing round, given the [Congressional Budget Office] report, which indicates that there is a lot of question as to how much has actually been saved to date . . . we really need much more analysis and far better factual representation of the current situation before we again go into another round and make commitments without knowing the full consequences," Daschle told reporters.
NEXT STORY: Limiting Contractors' Pay