Marty Walsh: “I would like to welcome the gentleman to the Congress. We are very proud and happy that he is here, and I hate to oppose…”

“I would like to welcome the gentleman to the Congress. We are very proud and happy that he is here, and I hate to oppose the very first amendment that he is offering, but I think it is the responsible thing to do. We believe this bill is a balanced bill that addresses all of the needs of the Nation in a fair manner. This amendment would cut $169 million from the funding required to carry out the BRAC recommendation. This cut would slow down the cleanup and disposal of closed bases for this round, and also the realignment of bases, and will therefore negatively impact the economies of those communities by stalling the reuse and development of that land. Now, the gentleman is from Louisiana. As we are all aware, there were a number of closures and realignments in the State of Louisiana, particularly around Baton Rouge and New Orleans, if this amendment were to pass, the redevelopment of those bases and properties, and I am sure land values are quite high in New Orleans and people would like to redevelop those properties, that would stall. It would be delayed. It would cause confusion. And I suspect that others Members of the Louisiana delegation may not want to support this because it will definitely affect their communities. I would also offer that at this point we are talking about a list of proposed closures. We do not know exactly which bases will be closed or realigned until the process is over.…”