Senate kicks off Defense authorization bill debate

The Senate started debate on the $441.6 billion fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill Wednesday, with several senators poised to offer a slew of amendments that range from interrogation tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility to halting the current base realignment and closure round.

Over the last several years, lawmakers have not succeeded in any legislative attempts to delay base closures, but that likely will not dissuade a coalition of senators from mounting one last campaign to stop the process.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has been one of the most vocal critics of the BRAC, and said Wednesday that he expects to introduce an amendment to put the process on hold until after the Pentagon concludes a series of sweeping reviews of its organization, force structure and plans.

The amendment, which would be similar to legislation he introduced this spring, also would require the return of most of the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan before launching back into base closures, said Thune, whose state stands to lose the expansive Ellsworth Air Force Base.

House members failed to tack similar language onto its version of the defense authorization bill.

Nonetheless, Thune said he is still hopeful the Senate will pass the amendment because "there is a case to be made that the process is moving much faster than it should."

If Thune's or any other senators' language on BRAC succeeds in the Senate, it still must make its way through conference committee. Conferees might not wrap up their work until the fall, well after the independent Base Closure and Realignment Commission submits its list of closure recommendations to the White House.

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., tried to thwart the BRAC round in last year's authorization bill but said he does not plan to offer any similar amendments this year because the process is "pretty far down the line now" and would face stiff opposition from Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va.

However, Lott said he would support any language that would "undermine, stop, defray, defer or kill" BRAC.

Lott could face several small closures in Mississippi, which has a long history of persuading the commission to overturn Pentagon recommendations.

A trio of top Armed Services Committee Republicans also is expected to introduce language on the treatment of prisoners at the military's Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Warner, Airland Subcommittee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are drafting language that would address legal rights and interrogation tactics for the facility, McCain said Wednesday.

Armed Services ranking member Carl Levin, D-Mich., is writing his own amendment, which would establish an independent commission to review allegations of prisoner mistreatment at the detention center.

During opening floor remarks, Levin also said he would support funding increases for nuclear non-proliferation programs, as well as moves to improve benefits for members of the National Guard and Reserve.

Meanwhile, Warner introduced his own amendment Wednesday evening that would increase funding for armoring Army and Marine Corps tactical vehicles. The amendment would increase Army budgets by $120 million, and the Marine Corps' budget by $340 million.

Warner put consideration of the amendment on hold until more senators could review the language.