Washington, DC - Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, told the members of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission that the preliminary Defense Department recommendations to close three military installations in the St. Louis area are full of “flawed assumptions and false savings.” Clay, along with several of his colleagues in the Missouri congressional delegation, testified this morning at a regional BRAC Hearing, held at Saint Louis University. The coordinated effort was aimed at saving 3,000 defense-related jobs in the region.

In his testimony before the commission, Congressman Clay recalled the failure of a previous round of base closures to produce real savings for taxpayers. He commented, “St. Louis is still struggling to recover from the loss of over 4,700 jobs at the Army Transportation Command which was closed by BRAC in 1995. At the time, my father, former Congressman Bill Clay, warned BRAC that the realignment would produce no real savings to the taxpayers because very few civilian employees would be willing to relocate. History proves that he was correct.”

“Less than 50% of ATCOM’s employees chose to relocate to Alabama. So the taxpayers had to pay millions to recruit and train a new workforce that was less capable and less experienced. A recent poll of employees at the Army Human Resources Center in Overland projected that only 40% of them would relocate to Fort Knox, as recommended by the preliminary BRAC report.”

“On behalf of my constituents, my state and the taxpayers of this country, please use your common sense…and don’t let history repeat itself by supporting a realignment that will cost taxpayers millions, hurt our local economy and never achieve BRAC’s mission.”

Clay led the testimony in favor of maintaining the Army Human Resources Center in Overland. He stated, “A very strong argument can be made, not only to maintain HRC-St.Louis…but to consolidate other Army personnel operations right here. When compared with Fort Knox, the existing facility in St. Louis excels in every key category.”

Mr. Clay was joined by St. Louis area congressional colleagues, Senator Kit Bond, Senator Jim Talent, and Congressman Todd Akin; who testified in support of the 131st Missouri Air Guard Fighter Wing and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service installations; all of which are at risk of closure. The BRAC Commission will deliver its final recommendations to President Bush in early September.