Dianne Feinstein: “I would like this distinguished body to know that we cannot get a single figure from the U.S. Navy as to what the cost…”

“I would like this distinguished body to know that we cannot get a single figure from the U.S. Navy as to what the cost savings actually will be from the closures of the Navy bases in the State of California. Not a single figure. They will not give us estimates. And yet we are going to run ahead, pass another round and begin this same procedure again. It doesn't make any sense. Let me quote what the BRAC 1995 commission itself recommended: . . . the Commission recommends that the Congress authorize another Base Closure Commission for the year 2001 . . . [giving] military services time to complete the current closures in an orderly fashion-- Which has not happened, I might allude to-- while ensuring that the Defense Department has the opportunity in the future to make further reductions . . . In addition to these new BRAC rounds beginning too quickly, and contrary to what DOD and supporters of this amendment claim, the base reuse process has been cumbersome and has been fraught with bureaucratic nightmares.”