Jim Inhofe: “I do agree with that. I want to give my assurance to the Senator from Georgia I have been living with this problem for a…”

“I do agree with that. I want to give my assurance to the Senator from Georgia I have been living with this problem for a long period of time. We need an ultimate solution. In the interim, we need to make sure the recommendations of the BRAC Commission--that we protect the integrity of that system and they be acted upon--that we go ahead and fulfill the expectations. Again, it is not just the money involved here. I think about all of the Senators who had closures, and if we start making exceptions now I think it is very unfair to every Member of this Senate body who has had a closure to now say for political reasons we can take exceptions. I know it is controversial when you say this, but if you just read the statements that the President made in August of 1996 right before the election, saying we will make sure those jobs do not leave, so what does that mean? It means regardless of what they do, whether it is competition or anything else, if the jobs stay in those areas we will still have five air logistic centers, so you have the same problem operating at 50 percent capacity.”