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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2005
CONTACT: Chris Paulitz

SENATORS HUTCHISON, CORNYN MEET WITH BRAC COMMISSIONERS
Reiterate concerns for Texas military installations, affects on communities

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn met with three of the nine-member Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission in her Washington, D.C. office and discussed all Texas base on the BRAC list. The Commissioners included General James T. Hill (USA, Ret), General Lloyd W. “Fig” Newton (USAF, Ret) and Brigadier General Sue E. Turner (USAF, Ret.).

“Senator Cornyn and I will continue to take our case directly to the BRAC Commission requesting that they reconsider the benefits of Texas bases. As the military undergoes realignments at home and abroad, we must consider where our troops can best train and be deployed,” Sen. Hutchison said. “As Chairman of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, I have been working for years to ensure military families have the necessary housing, schools and medical facilities they need.”

Sen. Hutchison has been a leading advocate for Texas’ military facilities and defender of Texas bases during the current BRAC process. She has consistently urged the Department of Defense to overhaul America’s global base realignment – bringing troops home from overseas before shutting down any U.S. installations.

On February 8, Sen. Hutchison and Sen. Cornyn attended a meeting at the Pentagon with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Sec. Rumsfeld told them the adverse impact of the 2005 BRAC process on military bases would be significantly reduced due to foreign reassignments to domestic bases. The Pentagon focused on Europe and Korea and subsequently announced last year that at least 70,000 U.S. troops are scheduled for recall to U.S. bases – with some headed to Texas bases.

On May 11, Senator Hutchison invited the 2005 Base BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony Principi to meet with fellow members of the Texas Delegation in her office. 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.

Following the May 13th release of the Department of Defense recommendations, Sens. Hutchison and Cornyn met with local officials in four Texas cities most affected by the recommendations. Sens. Hutchison and Cornyn have pledged to continue to highlight the significant military value of Texas bases and ask the BRAC Commissioners to reconsider the Department of Defense’s recommendations.


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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