Political Quotes

“This amendment, which is cosponsored by Representative Barber, states that none of the funds made available by this act may be used to propose, to plan for, or to execute a new or an additional round of BRAC. There is no doubt that we recognize the defense budget pressures that we face today in this fiscal environment, and we should direct our limited dollars to addressing the current mission, infrastructure, and readiness needs in support of our warfighters. Based on the cost of previous Base Realignment and Closure, a new round of base closures will likely entail large up-front costs and will end up costing much more than originally estimated. For example, the GAO says that the last BRAC in 2005 had an actual cost of $35.1 billion. That is an approximately 67 percent increase from the September 2005 BRAC Commission's original cost estimate of $21 billion. I know many Members of this Chamber want Congress to continue to have the close oversight of our military installations and infrastructure. This bipartisan amendment ensures that we can do that. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, which helps ensure that the funds in this bill address current needs, rather than to support a new round of BRAC. I would like to thank my colleague, Representative Barber, for offering this amendment with me, and I thank the chairman and the members of the subcommittee for working with me on this important issue. I yield back the balance of my time.”