[MilCom] Base closing news

[Amtrak35 at aol.com]

  I guess the bad news for some States/overseas will be coming soon. Trent 
must be worried about his area,course he has a rep for being the King of Mil 
Pork when it comes to his State.
 I'm sure there will be a lot of teeth gnashing come May from whoever gets 
the bad news.

 Anybody have some early guesses as to who gets the axe?
 Could be some surprises I feel.

 Mark
 Maryland

Apr 2, 2005
Bush Sidesteps Senator's Objections, Appoints Base Closings Commission
By Douglass K. Daniel
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, apparently brushing aside a stall tactic by 
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., appointed the nine-member commission that will 
determine military bases closings without waiting for Senate confirmation. Bush 
made the appointments while the Senate was in recess, the White House announced 
Friday night. The recess appointments prevent delays as the commission 
prepares to make the first round of base closings in a decade. 

Before it left for its spring recess the full Senate had been expected to 
vote on the nomination of Anthony Principi, former secretary of veterans affairs, 
as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission. The other 
commissioners, nominated by Bush on March 15, also required Senate 
confirmation. 

However, Lott - who opposes base closures and has pledged to protect military 
facilities in his home state - placed a "hold" on Principi's nomination, 
according to aides and lobbyists speaking on condition of anonymity. The hold 
delayed voting on the nomination. 

Lott was expected to place holds on the other nominations as well, the aides 
and lobbyists told The Associated Press earlier this week. The Senate Armed 
Services Committee had approved Principi's nomination and planned to review the 
other nominations in the next few weeks. 

Lott has said the United States should not be closing bases while troops are 
at war. "I will try to stop it at any point and in any way I possibly can," he 
said in February. 

Recess appointments expire when the Senate's current session ends, in this 
case in 2006. However, the commission likely will have concluded its work by the 
end of this year. 

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld must recommend bases for closure or 
consolidation by May 16.