October 9, 2004
ACCIDENTAL GOOD GOVERNMENT?:
Congress Set to Clear Way for Military Base Closings (Richard Simon, October 9, 2004, LA Times)
The House neared approval of a $446-billion defense authorization bill that allows the Pentagon to move ahead with the closings and the Senate is expected to follow suit. A number of California bases are considered vulnerable. [...]While a large number of lawmakers from both parties sought to delay base closings, they were faced with a preelection Hobson's choice: vote against the bill because it let the base closings go ahead, or vote for it because it included body armor and a pay raise for the troops.
"I will not vote to allow a group of bureaucrats to shut down bases at a time when we're at war," said Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.). "This just doesn't make sense."
Pentagon officials have talked about shutting the equivalent of at least 100 of the nation's 425 bases, more than in the four previous rounds of base closures combined. The money saved would be used for modernizing the military, the Pentagon has said.
A recent report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the military had 24% excess base structure.
Amazing they passed it in an election year. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 9, 2004 10:41 AM
Tom DeLay really was wounded by Pelosi's blather on TV, eh? Not.
I would enjoy watching Madame Nancy attack the Republicans for closing military bases - she has probably never voted for a military appropriation in her life.
Will the Democrats filibuster in the Senate? Or do the rules prevent this tactic for base closings?
Posted by: jim hamlen at October 9, 2004 9:43 PMDoes the base closing structure take into account the 70,000-100,000 troops being pulled from Europe and Asia?
Posted by: AWW at October 9, 2004 11:17 PMExtra troop housing isn't really a base closure issue, it's an issue of appropriating money to build billeting.
The bases we'll keep are the really, really big ones, where the post takes up a very small portion.
It makes a lot of sense to close the teeny tiny bases from wars past, and keep the gi-normous ones where the military has room to practice maneuvers.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at October 10, 2004 3:38 AMMichael,
Military housing is an issue and we have appropriated billions to deal with it. There is also a tendency towards privatization of family quarters. Closing the rinky-dink bases makes economic and military sense. Perhaps they can be sold to the States for the National Guard.
Posted by: Bart at October 10, 2004 8:27 AM