Rob Bishop: “Let me say in 90 seconds then, it may sound counterintuitive that BRAC doesn't save us money, but even though it can…”

“Let me say in 90 seconds then, it may sound counterintuitive that BRAC doesn't save us money, but even though it can take money off the Defense rolls, the question is: Where does this property end up and who pays for it? The bulk of the property ends up in the hands of local government, State government, and if it was public domain to begin with, the Department of the Interior has got first crack at it. I have also always sarcastically said every time there is a BRAC base closure, I end up with a new national park and national monument. And even though we have never done a study to verify it, I can give you a half dozen off the top of my head where that happened. So the question is: Does the taxpayer save money? And if you invent a BRAC process that will guarantee that the Federal estate will not be enlarged, that you won't simply transfer property from one Federal entity to another or from the Federal Government to State governments so the taxpayer saves money, then I will gladly support a BRAC process. But until we can guarantee that, all we are doing is shifting the money around, shifting the entity around. We may help the Department of Defense change their budget, but the taxpayer is still on the hook for all the property and all the efforts that go into it, and that is wrong, and that is the process. When we change the BRAC process to make it more public, to make it so the taxpayer saves, then I will support it, but that hasn't happened yet.…”