Appropriators press Pentagon over restructuring costs

Top Senate appropriators called on the Pentagon Tuesday to be more forthcoming with the anticipated costs of its plan to sharply revise its overseas basing strategy and with the impact that will have on military construction and the round of base closings in 2005.

Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, lauded the Air Force's overseas basing request of $823 million, a decrease from last year's request of $1 billion.

"Certainly on the overseas basing, you have been very forthcoming about what you're going to be doing," Hutchison told Air Force officials at a hearing of her panel. She added that she wanted to ensure "we're not wasting one dollar over there" that could be spent preparing domestic bases to receive troops returning from overseas.

But Hutchison and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who attended the hearing, questioned the Defense Department's anticipated global basing strategy and the impact of troops returning from overseas on both the Bush administration's $9.49 billion fiscal 2005 military construction request and the base closings.

Stevens told Raymond DuBois, deputy defense secretary for installations and environment, that in previous base closing rounds, the Pentagon had requested military construction funds for bases that were later closed. "I don't think that should happen," Stevens said. "We do not want to respond to requests for improvements at bases we're going to close or merge."

Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked about the department's request for military construction funds for European bases. The $426 million fiscal 2005 request includes $218 million for bases in Germany, where the bulk of force structure and basing changes are expected. Feinstein wondered if the money would be spent on facilities slated for closure there.

"The problem is, do we appropriate the money and then the plans change?" she asked.

DuBois said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had indicated that several bases for which the administration requested fiscal 2005 military construction funds would stay open. Rumsfeld intends to discuss his decisions regarding overseas bases for which funds were requested before the subcommittee marks up the military construction bill, he added.

"He knows you will have a difficult time making these decisions absent a certain certainty on these overseas bases," DuBois said.

Both Hutchison and Feinstein asked about the Pentagon's inability to project costs associated with military construction needs in Iraq. They noted that Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, recently acknowledged an urgent $531 million shortfall for contingency infrastructure needs under his command.

DuBois said the revelation of the commander's shortfall came too late for inclusion in the regular fiscal 2005 budget and predicted that such funds could come from the military services' operations and maintenance accounts and potentially might be included in the anticipated 2005 supplemental spending package next January.

Hutchison said she favored temporary solutions to contingency infrastructure needs to keep costs down but added that an alternative to supplemental appropriations was needed. "We're looking at a huge number there and the sooner you can get us something we can plan with, the better," she said.