[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 8, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3262-S3263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 132--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE 
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE REQUEST FOR DOMESTIC BASE REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE 
AUTHORITY IN 2015 AND 2017 IS NEITHER AFFORDABLE NOR FEASIBLE AS OF THE 
DATE OF AGREEMENT TO THIS RESOLUTION AND THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
  MUST FURTHER ANALYZE THE CAPABILITY TO CONSOLIDATE EXCESS OVERSEAS 
 INFRASTRUCTURE AND INCREASE EFFICIENCIES BY RELOCATING MISSIONS FROM 
 OVERSEAS TO DOMESTIC INSTALLATIONS PRIOR TO REQUESTING DOMESTIC BASE 
                   REALIGNMENT AND CLOSURE AUTHORITY

  Mr. BEGICH (for himself, Mr. Tester, and Mr. Baucus) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services:

                              S. Res. 132

       Whereas the Department of Defense claims a 24 percent 
     surplus in domestic military infrastructure and has requested 
     domestic Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) rounds in 2015 
     and 2017;
       Whereas Congress rejected a request for 2 BRAC rounds made 
     by the Department of Defense in fiscal year 2013;
       Whereas the Senate Armed Services Committee noted in title 
     XXIV of Senate Report 112-173 to accompany S. 3254 of the 
     112th Congress, that a request by the Department of Defense 
     for authority to conduct a domestic BRAC round must be 
     preceded by a comprehensive evaluation of opportunities to 
     obtain efficiencies through the consolidation of the overseas 
     operations of defense agencies and possible relocation back 
     to the United States;
       Whereas the Base Structure Report for fiscal year 2012 of 
     the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, 
     Installations and Environment, found that the Department of 
     Defense has 666 military sites in foreign countries, 
     including 232 in Germany, 109 in Japan, and 85 in South 
     Korea;
       Whereas the United States has developed an increased 
     capacity to rapidly deploy around the globe, thereby reducing 
     the strategic value of an overseas footprint based largely on 
     Cold War geopolitics and an obsolete National Security 
     Strategy;
       Whereas the Government Accountability Office concluded in a 
     2007 study that the 2005 BRAC round was the most complex and 
     costliest ever;
       Whereas the Government Accountability Office found in a 
     2012 report entitled ``Military Base Realignments and 
     Closures: Updated Costs and Savings Estimates from BRAC 
     2005'' that the 2005 BRAC round far exceeded estimated 
     implementation costs, growing from $21,000,000,000 to 
     $35,100,000,000, a 67 percent increase;
       Whereas the Government Accountability Office found in the 
     2012 report that the estimated 20-year savings for the 2005 
     BRAC round decreased by 72 percent from $35,600,000,000 to 
     $9,900,000,000;
       Whereas the Government Accountability Office estimates that 
     it will take until 2017 for the Department of Defense to 
     recoup upfront implementation costs of BRAC 2005, 4 years 
     longer than the BRAC Commission estimates and 12 years after 
     the date of execution and initial investment;
       Whereas the Department of Defense would spend 
     $2,400,000,000 in a time of fiscal austerity to execute the 
     proposed BRAC round in 2015;
       Whereas the financial crisis in the United States continues 
     to challenge local economies and a BRAC round would create 
     more uncertainty and economic hardship for impacted 
     communities still in the recovery process;
       Whereas Federal budget uncertainty and the fiscal 
     challenges a domestic BRAC round would bring to communities 
     renders the significant $2,400,000,000 in up-front costs 
     neither affordable nor feasible as of the date of agreement 
     to this resolution; and
       Whereas the lack of potential return on the significant 
     investment required for a BRAC round may result in an 
     inefficient use of taxpayer funds: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) as of the date of agreement to this resolution, the 
     Department of Defense should not be granted authority for the 
     requested 2015 and 2017 Base Realignment and Closure rounds;
       (2) before granting the authority for the requested 2015 
     and 2017 BRAC rounds, the Department of Defense should 
     achieve economic efficiencies by--
       (A) closing and consolidating excess infrastructure and 
     facilities in overseas locations; and
       (B) reexamining relocation opportunities of overseas 
     missions to United States military installations; and
       (3) the Department of Defense is unwise to request a BRAC 
     round when the economy of the United States is struggling to 
     recover and negatively impacted communities are fighting to 
     put citizens back to work.

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