[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20723]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             BASE CLOSINGS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I am here this noontime to introduce a 
resolution of disapproval regarding the base closing commission which I 
believe is a flawed document. I believe it is flawed because I think 
the base closing commission ignored some very, very significant 
information. But most importantly I think the base closing commission 
and those at the Defense Department who helped them make these 
recommendations ignore the fact that we are at war and has ignored the 
fact that the 130,000 men and women that are in Iraq fighting the good 
fight, winning the freedom and hope and opportunity for the people 
there, many of them come from bases around the country, they are 
citizen-soldiers, they are volunteers, they are people who have been 
well-trained and well-equipped and are doing a great job but they are 
people who come from bases, some of which have been recommended for 
closure by the base closing commission. I think that does fly in the 
face of what we believe is the idea of having a strong military, the 
idea of having a citizen-soldier, the idea of not having a draft 
because we have these bases that provide the kind of capability when 
these men and women are called upon to do the hard work as they did in 
Afghanistan. We see now in Afghanistan millions of people have gone to 
the polls and voted and they do have democracy there. The same will be 
true of Iraq very soon, thanks to the citizen-soldiers.
  This report is flawed because it does not take into account a Federal 
law on the books that says that bases cannot be closed without the 
Governor of the State authorizing the closure of that base. The base 
closing commission ignored that law. They bypassed that law. I believe 
there now is in some courts in this country opinions that say that 
these bases should not be closed unless the Governor of that State 
agrees to that. But the base closing commission ignored that.
  I think it is also important to note that through all of the 
deliberations and hearings and visits that took place, part of what was 
ignored is the impact that these bases have in certain parts of the 
country. They are very, very important, to the economies of local 
communities, to what they do for local communities, and this will be a 
terrible blow to many communities around the country. But I think the 
military aspect is probably the most important aspect that we really 
need to look at.
  I am here today introducing this resolution of disapproval hoping 
that my colleagues as they have a chance to consider the 
recommendations that have now been forwarded from the President to the 
Congress, we now have a period of time to consider these, I hope 
Members will look at these recommendations, consider the terrible, 
terrible deficiency that are included in these recommendations and 
consider the impact that these recommendations will have on our 
military. Now is not the time to be closing bases around the country. 
Now is not the time to be eliminating men and women who have done the 
hard work that they have been asked to do, who have done the good work 
that they have been asked to do. This is the wrong time. The timing is 
wrong.
  We now as a Congress have the opportunity, I think, to have our say. 
We have the opportunity to say, those of us that have stood with the 
President, that have stood with the military, that have made the votes 
to provide the money to make sure that our military have the kind of 
capability they have to win the peace and to win democracy in 
Afghanistan, to win the peace and to bring about democracy in Iraq are 
saying that this is not the time to be closing bases, Guard and Reserve 
bases and other bases around the country and emasculating the military. 
This is the wrong time.
  I hope that our Members will look carefully at these recommendations 
and become a cosponsor of the resolution of disapproval that I have 
introduced today. I think when Members look at these recommendations 
they will see that they are flawed, they will see that this is not the 
right time, and I believe that when given the opportunity to really 
study these recommendations, Members will decide that this resolution 
of disapproval is the right thing to do and to send them back to the 
commission.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to cosponsor my resolution and to look at 
these recommendations and come to the same conclusion that I have come 
to.

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