Jon Tester: “Thank you, Mr. President. It is good to see the Senator in the chair. I rise to speak on amendment No. 1145. I cannot…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. It is good to see the Senator in the chair. I rise to speak on amendment No. 1145. I cannot call up this amendment at this point in time, but hopefully at some time during this debate we can deal with this issue of foreign base closures, which is what amendment No. 1145 does. I have offered--along with my colleague from Texas, Senator Hutchison--to establish an overseas basing commission. We are joined on this amendment by Senators Conrad, Wyden, and Sanders. This commission would be charged with saving taxpayer money by identifying and reevaluating our overseas military base structure and investments. It is not a new discussion. This has been done before. In Washington, colleagues from both sides of the aisle have long advocated for issues similar to this one. In Montana, Senator Mike Mansfield--a personal hero of mine and one of the truest statesmen of this body--advocated fiercely throughout his public service for a more commonsense approach to our overseas military commitment. Senator Mansfield's approach balanced our national security interests and decisions with decisions and investments that made sense fiscally. The time could not be more appropriate to renew this call. Given our budget outlook, we have a responsibility to exhaustively look for savings across our government. We need to be smart and we need to work together.…”