Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I do hope the door is still open. Originally, I had hoped we could do the military construction as well as the…”

“I do hope the door is still open. Originally, I had hoped we could do the military construction as well as the base-closing commission funding because the delays are going to have impacts throughout the military services. But the amendment I am hoping to offer, that I am told now you are considering--the Hutchison-Inhofe amendment--only does the BRAC funding. It only restores the funding for BRAC so that the 6-year time allotment this Congress itself has mandated for BRAC to be completed can, in fact, be done. If we delay the BRAC, it will have severe consequences on 12,000 troops coming home hopefully this year. And there are so many other things. I know some of the Members on your side of the aisle have talked to you about environmental remediation that will not be able to be done, and other things. So I so hope we can work this out so the House could approve it and we would not have to have a conference. I hope the majority leader will also consider, when we do go into the supplemental, looking at some of the MILCON that must be done before the 2008 budget starts for that year of funding. There are some prerequisites that are necessary. But I have set that aside in deference to the wishes of the majority to try to move a bill forward. But I do think the BRAC has been the single area where we have not been able to accommodate what needs to be done to move forward. And delays are very costly.”