Base closure proposal unlikely to gain traction

President Obama and the Pentagon on urging Congress to approve a new round of base closures and realignments beginning at the end of next year.

The $526.6 billion defense base budget request included in President Barack Obama's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal, which he submitted to Congress last week, calls for a round of base closures that would start in 2015, with the promise that consolidating the military's "excess capacity" in real estate would pay dividends over the long term.

But members of Idaho's congressional delegation aren't too worried, noting that the Republican members of both the House and Senate have rejected Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) proposals submitted in previous years.

"BRAC requests are usually a part of the presidential budget request, although Congress has not approved a BRAC round for a number of years and is unlikely to do so again," said Lindsay Northern, a spokesperson for Sen. Mike Crapo.

Local observers have noted that with the ongoing cuts in defense spending, almost every base in the country, including Mountain Home Air Force Base, has some kind of excess capacity.

Some Republican leaders have described the proposed BRAC plan as "radioactive," with no hope of being passed, despite the support it has garnered from some members of the party's Tea Party wing. Even many Democrats, particularly those with large military facilities in their districts, are opposing any BRACs.

In advocating the proposal, the Pentagon said in a statement that a"BRAC is the only effective means of achieving infrastructure consolidation.... This BRAC round adds $2.4 billion to costs in the next five years, but would eventually save substantial sums. The actual closing of bases would involve a multiyear process that would not start until 2016, after the economy is projected to have more fully recovered."

During the last round of BRACs, Mountain Home Air Force Base briefly popped up on the list of candidate closure sites, but was almost as quickly dropped, due to the advantages noted in lengthy good flying weather each year and quality nearby training ranges.

The department is also asking Congress to slow the growth in personnel costs with a 1 percent pay raise to troops and increases in fees paid for some health care services.

The Pentagon said the BRACs would eliminate excess capacity currently existing and maintain its "commitment to careful use of taxpayer dollars," especially in light of major budget cuts in the Department being ordered by Congress.

The force would be restructured to become "smaller and leaner and once again targeting overhead savings," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel noted in a written statement.

The budget request largely is consistent with 2013's, and it calls for a round of base realignment and closure (BRAC), savings in managing military medical treatment facilities, cuts in low-priority and poorly performing weapons programs and slowed growth in military pay and benefits.

The Pentagon statement accompanying the request notes the fiscal 2013 sequester cuts will mean training cutbacks, civilian furloughs, maintenance delays and deployment curtailments that "will inevitably have rippling effects into (fiscal) 2014." The statement notes the president's budget request "includes balanced deficit reduction proposals that... allow Congress to replace and repeal the sequester-related reductions" required by the 2011 Budget Control Act.

The fiscal 2014 request doesn't include a request for overseas contingency operations funding, which together with the base budget request make up the defense top-line funding proposal. OCO funding primarily covers operations in Afghanistan.

"Decisions regarding force levels in Afghanistan were delayed until February of this year to provide commanders time to assess wartime needs fully," the Pentagon statement said. "A separate OCO request is being prepared and will be submitted to Congress in the coming weeks."

The base budget request asks for $209.4 billion for operations and maintenance; $137.1 billion for military personnel; $99.3 billion for procurement; $67.5 billion in research, development, testing and evaluation; $11 billion for military construction and $2.3 billion in other costs.

By department, the budget request assigns $155.8 billion to the Navy, $144.4 billion to the Air Force, $129.7 billion to the Army and $96.7 billion to other defense activities.

Military compensation in the 2014 request includes a proposed 1 percent pay raise and housing and subsistence allowance increases to 4.2 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.

The request includes some changes in military health care enrollment fees and pharmacy co-pays that Congress denied last year. Those proposals, which largely involve retiree health insurance fees, have been modified to accommodate concerns expressed by Congress, officials said.