News

Bill to delay base closings being held up
By Celeste Calvitto, Journal Staff Writer

As local and state leaders work to get Ellsworth Air Force Base off the Base Realignment and Closure list, the Senate bill to postpone the whole base-closing process is taking on a secondary role.

Introduced last month by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., with Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., as one of 17 co-sponsors, the bill calls for the current BRAC round of base closings to be delayed until recommendations on overseas bases are analyzed and the Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR, is received early next year.

"I still think there's a sound rationale with everything that's going on in the world today, that we know all that before this BRAC round proceeds," Thune said this week.

The bill also would delay the process until "substantially all major combat units" deployed in Iraq have returned.

At Tuesday's BRAC hearing in Rapid City, there were a number of references to the "frustrating" delays in the release of Department of Defense data supporting its rationale in developing the base-closing list. That adds to the ammunition for a delay in the BRAC process, Thune said.

Although the proposed legislative remedy has a role in the big picture surrounding the BRAC process, it remains in the background as the push to get Ellsworth removed from the list proceeds, Thune said.

"It's a multi-front battle," he said. "But right now, we are focusing on the 45- or 60-day window where we've got to put our shoulder to the wheel to try and get this thing reversed."

BRAC commissioners will work through the summer to analyze what they have heard at hearings throughout the country. Their recommendations will be forwarded to President Bush by Sept. 8.

Thune acknowledged from the start that it would be an uphill battle to gather significant support for the bill, but he said that it has had an effect in other ways.

"They're slow-walking some of the legislation through the Senate right now for fear of having debate about BRAC," Thune said. "The defense authorization bill would have been on the floor probably by now, and they pushed it back because, I think, they are afraid we could win a debate on it. It has been useful in helping to focus attention on the process and elevating its importance."

Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., introduced an identical measure in the House. It was defeated as an amendment to the House version of the defense authorization bill, but it still exists as standalone legislation. Herseth's bill has 29 co-sponsors and has been referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

Co-sponsors of the Senate bill, in addition to Johnson, are Democrats Max Baucus, Montana; Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico; Jon Corzine, New Jersey; Christopher Dodd, Connecticut; Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey; Joe Lieberman, Connecticut; John D. Rockefeller, West Virginia; and Republicans Conrad Burns, Montana; Susan Collins, Maine; Pete Domenici, New Mexico; Judd Gregg, New Hampshire; Trent Lott, Mississippi; Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; Olympia Snowe, Maine; Ted Stevens, Alaska; and John Sununu, New Hampshire.

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