[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 71 (Monday, May 23, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3226-S3227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Collins):
  S. 1044. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize 
the Defense Commissary Agency to conduct a pilot program at military 
institutions to be closed or subject to an adverse realignment under a 
base closure law under which a commissary store may sell additional 
types of merchandise; to the Committee on Armed Services.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with 
my colleague, Senator Collins, to authorize the Department of Defense 
to carry out a pilot program to sell certain products at commissaries 
that serve areas with military installations that have been adversely 
affected by a Base Closure and Realignment, BRAC, round. It is my 
fervent hope that this legislation will provide the Department of 
Defense with a means of reducing the operating costs of the commissary 
in Topsham, Maine sufficiently that they are able to keep a commissary 
in the area open for many years after the disestablishment of Naval Air 
Station, NAS, Brunswick.
  As my colleagues know, the 2005 BRAC round ordered the closure of NAS 
Brunswick, Maine. That base, which once employed nearly 5,000 personnel 
in the region, will be officially disestablished on May 31, 2011. With 
the closure of NAS Brunswick, some in the Department of Defense have 
argued that the nearby commissary in Topsham, Maine, should also be 
closed.
  However, even after the closure of NAS Brunswick, nearly 1,500 active 
duty, Guard, and Reserve service members remain within a 20 mile drive 
of the installation, including more than 300 active duty personnel who 
support the Navy's Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair 
just down the road in Bath, Maine. In addition, almost 9,000 military 
retirees and their dependents live in the immediate area, with many 
thousands more living within an hour's drive.
  Thanks to a provision that I and my Maine colleagues succeeded in 
having included in the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2011, the Topsham commissary will remain open until at 
least September 15, 2011, while the Department of Defense considers the 
findings of a Government Accountability Office review on commissary 
operations and policies.

[[Page S3227]]

  That GAO review was recently completed, and it revealed that the 
Department's decision to close the commissary was based on instructions 
that lack clear criteria for determining when commissaries should be 
established, operated, or closed. DOD concurred with GAO's assessment 
that its instructions are unclear, and indicated that it would clarify 
its criteria in the next version of commissary operations.
  So, just one week ago, on May 10, 2011, Senator Collins and I wrote 
to Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford 
Stanley to urge that he not close ANY commissary--including the Topsham 
commissary--until those instructions are clarified. Such an approach is 
the only reasonable route for DOD to move forward in a fair and 
transparent manner.
  In recognition of the financial challenges facing our nation, we have 
also developed an idea to reduce the operating costs of the Topsham 
commissary, which DOD estimates to be approximately $2.2 million per 
year. The store currently returns about $400,000 to the commissary 
system through surcharge revenues, but I certainly appreciate how 
important it is to address the state of our nation's budget.
  So, with a commissary at Topsham, and an exchange at NAS Brunswick, 
we explored the option of using a provision in existing law to create a 
``combined'' store. Although that idea was appealing, we learned that 
every store created under that authority has eventually failed for lack 
of financial support. Thus, we developed the legislation we introduce 
here today.
  This bill would create a pilot program to operate an ``enhanced 
commissary store'' in the Topsham-Brunswick area and at other 
installations closed or adversely realigned by a BRAC round. This new 
authority would allow the pilot stores to sell items that are currently 
sold by or for the military exchanges, such as alcoholic beverages and 
tobacco products. Unlike other products at the commissary, which are 
sold at cost plus a 5 percent surcharge, these products would be sold 
at higher prices as determined by the Secretary of Defense, and the 
proceeds from those sales would be applied to reducing the operating 
costs of each enhanced commissary.
  Although it is difficult to determine how much revenue would result 
from this proposal, preliminary estimates are that it could reduce 
costs at a location such as the Topsham commissary by approximately 
$300,000 per year. That is more than enough to make a cost-effective 
benefit like the commissary an even better deal for our service members 
and the taxpayer.
  On a final note, I would point out that this bill is quite similar to 
a provision included at the behest of Congresswoman Chellie Pingree in 
H.R. 1540, the National Defense Authorization Act fiscal year 2012, as 
reported by the House Armed Services Committee. It has been my pleasure 
to work with her in developing this concept, and I hope that we will be 
able to include similar language in the Senate version of the bill 
later this year.
  I believe that this bill is a common sense solution to ensuring that 
our service members, military retirees, and their dependents are able 
to continue to access the extremely important and valued benefit that 
is the commissary system, even in locations that undergo significant 
realignments due to a BRAC round. I urge my colleagues to consider this 
legislation, and look forward to working with the Senate Armed Services 
Committee to include the proposal in their version of the National 
Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2012.
                                 ______