Labor Department announces BRAC assistance grants

The Labor Department announced Tuesday more than $28 million in federal grants for communities affected by the Pentagon's current base closure and realignment round.

The money is spread out among 28 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Guam, all of which stand to lose jobs as a result of the BRAC round.

The grants are intended to aid workers affected, help communities develop their post-base closure plans, and expand economic development programs, Labor Secretary Chao said in a statement.

States applied for the grants following criteria laid out by the Labor Department in May, just after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced his base-closure recommendations.

No state or community may use the funds to lobby the independent base-closure commission to keep their installations open.

In many cases, the size of the grants coincides with the impact the BRAC round might have on individual states.

Connecticut and Maine, for instance, are the two states hit hardest by the base-closure round and each stand to receive $1 million and $1.3 million, respectively.

South Dakota, which stands to lose Ellsworth Air Force Base, likewise would receive $1 million.