Senators push bill for new round of base closures

Three Senators have introduced a bill that would authorize two additional base closure rounds in 2001 and 2003.

The bill, S. 258, would follow the process used in past base closure rounds. The next President would appoint a 9-member commission to review Pentagon recommendations for closures. The commission's recommendations would then be forwarded to the President for his review. The House and Senate would be allowed to review the recommendations, but if Congress didn't vote down the proposed closings, they would become law.

The bill also also would only allow "privatization in place" plans for bases to be implemented only if the commission recommended them. Many members of Congress were angered when President Clinton decided prior to the 1996 election to privatize-in-place work at depots in California and Texas after the bases had been slated for closing. Local governments would also be allowed to weigh in with their concerns as the Pentagon decided which bases it wanted to close.

"We can continue to maintain a military infrastructure that we don't need, or we can provide the necessary funds to ensure our military can fight and win future wars," said Sen. John McCain, one of the bill's sponsors. "Every dollar we spend on bases we do not need is a dollar we cannot spend on training our troops, keeping personnel quality of life at an appropriate level, maintaining force structure, replacing old weapons systems and advancing our military technology."

The other two sponsors are Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Charles Robb, D-Va.

The Clinton administration has pushed for additional base closure rounds, but opposition in Congress prevented a similar bill from passing last year.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said on Wednesday the president should not expect support for more base closings.

"He's not going to get a base closing bill through this Congress, because Democrats and Republicans were burned once," Weldon said. "They're not going to be burned again."