Jon Tester: “first, I wish to start by thanking Chairman Levin and Senator McCain for their continued dialog on a matter of overseas…”

“first, I wish to start by thanking Chairman Levin and Senator McCain for their continued dialog on a matter of overseas basing priorities. I very much appreciate their efforts to work to get at least the first steps in place for a thorough review of our overseas basing needs and finally getting some answers on the costs of these bases. I also wish to especially thank my colleague from Texas, Senator Hutchison, for her continued leadership on this issue and for joining me on amendment 1145, a bipartisan effort to establish an overseas basing commission. I realize there are concerns that this is not the right time to establish such a commission. However, I think it is the perfect time. So let me reiterate one point I mentioned yesterday. The commission would be charged with saving taxpayers money by identifying potential savings from reevaluating and potentially realigning our overseas military base structure and investments. It is time we take some commonsense steps to identify and cut overseas military facilities and construction projects that have minimal negative impacts on our national security and military readiness. There is no better time than the present to begin this work. In a spirit of compromise and understanding that establishing a commission is not currently acceptable to some, I have worked with my colleagues to include an independent assessment of our overseas basing in this legislation.…”