News

Bill would delay base closings
By Celeste Calvitto, Journal Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Acknowledging that its chances of passage may be difficult, South Dakota's U.S. senators are seeking a legislative remedy to the military recommendations that could lead to the closing of Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Wednesday introduced a bill to delay base closings recommended last week by the Department of Defense. Ellsworth is on the DOD list, which will be reviewed by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

The bill calls for the current BRAC round of base closings to be delayed until recommendations on overseas base closings are analyzed, the Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR, is received, and "substantially all major combat units" deployed in Iraq have returned.

"This bill will correct what I believe to be a grave error by the Pentagon," Thune said in a written statement. "It doesn't make sense to close bases now."

"Given the permanence of base closings, the Pentagon should take the time to review the recommendations of the QDR and other reports first. We need to slow down the process and fully understand the military's long-term needs. We should not be undertaking massive BRAC realignments and closures while we are engaged in a war," Thune said.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., a co-sponsor of the bill, said Wednesday that "this will be an uphill political climb. … Nonetheless, it is an effort we need to pursue."

Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., said Wednesday that she introduced a similar bill in the House.

Johnson and Thune said at a news conference last week after the Department of Defense base-closure recommendations that they would seek what Thune called a legislative "pushback." They acknowledged then that other members of Congress whose districts fared well in the initial recommendations may not want to rock the boat.

Thune spokesman Kyle Downey said that although that is a factor, the bill Thune introduced "has an impressive list of co-sponsors."

Johnson and Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico are among the Democratic co-sponsors of the legislation. Republican senators who are co-sponsors are Trent Lott of Mississippi, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens of Alaska. Stevens is chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Both Thune and Johnson said they will have a better idea of the general reception among their colleagues as the bill is floated. So far, according to Thune, the DOD's recommendations "got a very cold reception in Congress." Johnson said that members of Congress "are troubled about the timing" of the recommended closings.

Where the legislation lands could also be a factor in its progress. It could go to the Armed Services Committee or as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, which is coming up in a few weeks.

This latest action is yet another front on which the members of South Dakota's congressional delegation are attacking Ellsworth's situation. They are working to get Ellsworth removed from the base-closure list while initiating a parallel effort to look ahead at economic-development possibilities if removal is unsuccessful.

Johnson said Wednesday that in the meantime, the delegation has been waiting for more details on the reasoning behind the DOD recommendations. He said it may take longer than expected because the Air Force "has been telling us that some or large portions of that data may be classified."

Contact Celeste Calvitto at 394-8438 or celeste.calvitto@rapidcityjournal.com