House votes to prevent military base closures

The House late Thursday gave voice vote approval to a proposal that would prevent a round of military base closures.

Rep. Rob Wittman’s (R-Va.) amendment to the 2015 Defense appropriations bill would prohibit any funds from being used to plan or execute another round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).

{mosads}Wittman argued that the process of base closures would cost money and divert resources from other miltiary priorities.

“Now’s the time to make sure we maintain readiness,” Wittman said. The Virginia Republican’s district includes a portion of Newport News, which is home to several military installations.

Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee, did not oppose the amendment but argued Congress shouldn’t reject so many of the Pentagon’s proposals to save money. Congress has also largely resisted the Air Force’s call to retire the A-10 close air support planes.

“I certainly don’t dimsiss the resulting impacts in many members’ congressional districts,” Visclosky said of a BRAC round. “But again, I don’t think we should foreclose any options to consider to possibly save money.

“We’ve got to stop saying no to everything. We’ve got to start saying yes to some things,” Visclosky added.

Wittman’s amendment was debated for about nine minutes shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday night.