Kay Bailey Hutchison: “what we are asking with the amendment I have tried to put forward but which was ruled out of order is to simply restore…”

“what we are asking with the amendment I have tried to put forward but which was ruled out of order is to simply restore the $3.1 billion that was cut from the Base Closing Commission military construction. We cut--not we, but the bill that is on the floor that we are not able to amend--$3.1 billion out of the Base Closing Commission military construction funding. Our amendment, the Hutchison-Inhofe amendment, has 27 cosponsors. That is almost one-third of the Senate, and there are many who said they would like to sponsor the amendment but in deference to their leadership did not feel they could, because so many States have major projects in this BRAC military construction funding. These are not projects that any Member of Congress put in this bill or in the bill that passed the House and Senate. These are the Department of Defense projects, for them to be able to meet the congressionally mandated deadline of 2011 for finishing the BRAC process. So they are projects that were selected in order of priority by the Department of Defense. There is not one earmark, not one congressional add in the military construction budget that we are trying to restore. We are trying to restore the budget we have already passed so the Department of Defense can meet the deadline we have set. I think this amendment should be in order.”