Lawmaker warns on using authorization to delay base closings
Efforts to stall base closing panel will prevent other initiatives from getting through, says Rep. John Hostettler, a senior member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee.
A senior Republican on the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee said Thursday that attempts to use the defense authorization bill to delay or cancel the 2005 round of base closings could ultimately burden military installations around the country.
Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., has supported failed efforts in previous bills to stall the Base Closure and Realignment Commission. But he said a threatened presidential veto of an authorization bill delaying BRAC would hold up military construction and other funding for the Defense Department.
Lawmakers are discussing last-minute ways to stop the new round of BRAC, but Hostettler said it "won't happen anyway, and [we won't] get other initiatives through."
President Bush threatened last year to veto the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill if it contained language to delay BRAC.
The House, led by Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo., and ranking member Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, voted to delay BRAC from 2005 to 2007 as part of its bill. The Senate narrowly defeated the amendment, clearing the way for this round of base closings.
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said he is not concerned with a veto threat. "How many bills has the president vetoed?" he said Thursday. "None." Taylor, a longtime opponent of this base-closing round and a member of the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, said he expects "new allies" after Defense Secretary Rumsfeld releases his recommended list of closings and realignments next week.
Hostettler joined members of the Indiana delegation Thursday highlighting the value of the Hoosier State's military installations. The members made their case to keep Indiana bases open, repeatedly sighting the installations' joint capabilities and contributions to conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military value is the top criteria the Defense Department and the independent BRAC commission use when deciding to shutter a base.
Indiana's bases, including Grissom Air Reserve Base and Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, are "combat multipliers," said Veterans Affairs Chairman Buyer. Crane is the only major active-duty installation in Indiana.
After the Defense secretary's list is made public, the independent BRAC commission will have four months to study the recommendations before submitting its list to the president Sept. 8. The president then reviews the list and either sends it back to the commission for more work or forwards it to Congress. Lawmakers can pass a joint resolution to reject the entire list, an unlikely and unprecedented move.