House, Senate still deadlocked over base closings

House, Senate deadlocked over base closings House and Senate negotiators remain deadlocked over whether the Pentagon should be allowed to close more military bases beginning in 2003.

The Senate approved another round of base closings as part of its 2002 defense authorization bill earlier this year, but the House rejected a similar proposal. So far, negotiators have failed to settle the issue in conference committee meetings.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has repeatedly called for more base closures to free up money to transform the armed forces and repair aging infrastructure. Last month, Rumsfeld said he would ask President Bush to veto the 2002 defense authorization measure if it did not permit more base closings.

Congress is expected to continue negotiations this week. One possible compromise, which has won the support of some House lawmakers, would be to draw up a list of bases that would be exempt from closure because they are considered critical to national security.

Traditionally, the base closure process has operated independent of Congress. Lawmakers have appointed independent commissions to come up with lists of bases to close. Congress and the President then had to either accept or reject the lists in their entirety. Base closures were approved in 1988, 1981, 1993 and 1995, saving the Defense Department billions of dollars and shuttering nearly 100 bases.

Rumsfeld has said additional base closures could save another $3 billion annually because the Defense Department has 23 percent excess base capacity.