Hon. Michael G. Oxley: “I stand in support of House Joint Resolution 65, disapproving the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure…”

“I stand in support of House Joint Resolution 65, disapproving the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. This will be my first vote against a BRAC list, and it is not a vote I take lightly. I support the BRAC process as a whole as a reasonable and apolitical method for evaluating our Nation's defense infrastructure needs, and recognize the necessity of this first BRAC round in a decade. But while I salute the hard work of the BRAC Commission members in their deliberations and recognize the difficulty of their task, this BRAC round took place in the context of flawed methodology as regarded Air National Guard bases. It was my expectation that the Department of Defense would solicit input from all relevant sources in evaluating our Air National Guard requirements--most importantly, the adjutant general of each State. But at no time in the Pentagon's development of its Air Force BRAC recommendations did it ask the Adjutant General of Ohio or any of the other 53 adjutants general for input. I find this shocking, considering that the Army consulted the adjutants general when crafting its recommendations--and considering that 37 of the 42 Air Force BRAC proposals involved Air National Guard units. For the past 24 years, I have had the privilege of representing the guardsmen of one of those units: the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard, located at Mansfield Lahm Airport.…”