John Thune: “If the Senator from Virginia would yield, the response to your question is that you are correct. The House did have a…”

“If the Senator from Virginia would yield, the response to your question is that you are correct. The House did have a vote on an amendment. There was a BRAC amendment. But it was not this amendment. It was an amendment that would essentially do away with or delay the entire BRAC process. In other words, the BRAC Commission would not be able, under the House amendment, to complete its work. This allows the BRAC Commission to continue with their work product and respects the BRAC process, but simply slows down the implementation of those recommendations until these certain conditions are met. And with respect to the question of the Senator from Michigan regarding the so-called illogic of having the President weigh in on this, frankly, this Senator would like to know this type of information before we cast votes on whether we are going to close bases. I, frankly, don't know, nor does anybody on the floor this evening, what is in the QDR. I have some assumptions about that, but I happen to believe we may be surprised by some of the findings, some of the strategies that are going to be laid out when that QDR comes out, and what some of the weapon systems needs are and what some of the basing needs are. We are the elected representatives of the people. We represent the people of our respective States. In my view, we should be the ones who review this type of information before we make votes on shuttering bases across the country.…”