FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2005
CONTACT: Chris Paulitz
SENATORS HUTCHISON, CORNYN VISIT CORPUS CHRISTI
Vow to work to save Naval Station Ingleside
WASHINGTON, DC -- Texas Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn vowed to work to save Naval Station Ingleside when they came to Corpus Christi today and met with local officials. Ingleside was slated for closure Friday on the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list.
"Ingleside is the only deep water port in the Gulf of Mexico and it is critical to our homeland security mission," said Sen. Hutchison, Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee. "It is the closest Naval base to Mexico and Central and South America and it is the newest and most modern Naval base in the nation."
"This visit is part of our effort to plot our strategy going forward. We intend to take our case directly to the BRAC Commission members and convince them that many of the Department of Defense's recommendations are bad for our national defense and homeland security," said Sen. Cornyn, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "We will continue working with local Texas leaders and push the BRAC Commission to take an independent look at the Pentagon's recommendations, considering additional information that may help us reverse negative decisions while keeping the positive ones."
The Senators stressed Naval Station Ingleside's strategic location as the only naval station in the Gulf of Mexico and its status as the newest most modern naval station in the country. The location provides the United States with multi-mission, multi-agency capabilities, a capability that helped the naval installation survive the 1993 BRAC round, before the September 11 attacks.
The BRAC recommendations also proposed significant reductions at the Corpus Christi Army Depot and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. The Senators stressed the merit of careful review of these decisions.
On May 11, Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, and many members of the Texas Congressional delegation, met with the 2005 Base BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony Principi. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce Chairman Principi to the members of the delegation and to highlight the significant military value of Texas bases. In that meeting, Chairman Principi agreed to send at least one BRAC commissioner to each affected base, and to work with Senators Hutchison and Cornyn on the appeals process.
Key Future Dates for BRAC Process:
- Sept. 23: Deadline for a presidential decision on whether to accept or reject the BRAC recommendations in their entirety - the White House's only options. If Bush accepts the plan, it becomes final within 45 legislative days, unless Congress passes a joint resolution to block the entire package.
- Oct. 20: If Bush rejects the BRAC recommendations, the commission has until this date to submit a revised list of proposed closures.
- Nov. 7: Deadline for the president to approve or disapprove the revised recommendations.
- April 15, 2006: The commission terminates.
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