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| WILSON VOTES ‘NO’ ON DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL |
December 13, 2001 |
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| Opposes Military Base Closure Provisions in the Bill
WASHINGTON -- Congresswoman Heather Wilson voted against the Defense Authorization bill today because of a provision included in the bill that would authorize a round of military base closures in 2005. In August, the Bush administration proposed the Efficient Facilities Initiative (EFI) Act of 2001, which would have authorized the Secretary of Defense to recommend a single round of base closures and realignments (BRAC) to an independent commission in 2003. However, the final draft of the joint House/Senate Defense bill postponed the closures for two years. Wilson opposes any consideration of base closures for the near term. She made the following statement to explain her opposition.
“Unfortunately, I will not be able to support the conference report today because of the base realignment and closure language otherwise known as BRAC, which is the bill. Mr. Speaker, now is not the time for this process to move forward. Right now, our soldiers are deployed abroad fighting for our freedom, how can we tell families who have a loved one deployed in that fight that we may be closing their base, closing their home.
“In addition, while the Administration makes general claims about savings and excess real estate, I have asked personally and directly for the data that supports the claims and they said that they do not have it. There is no evidence that money has been saved during the last round of base closure.
“Finally, I believe that strategy should drive force structure, and force structure should determine basing. The defense department has not defined what their new strategy is or what forces are required. Without answering those questions, deciding to put communities through another BRAC is indefensible. It was for those reasons that this House considered and rejected another round of base closure. We were right to do so. There are many good things in this bill that I support. But I cannot support base closure.”
The Defense Authorization bill passed the house by a vote of 382-40. It must next be considered by the Senate. |
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