More military base closures and cuts are unavoidable. It’s just a matter of when, some observers say.
Pentagon leaders want it to be in 2015 because taxpayers are footing the bill for unneeded space.
Members of Congress, including the Texas delegation, don’t because taxpayers still are picking up the tab for the 2005 round of base realignment and closure.
Still, Department of Defense officials contend the military has 20 percent too many facilities and bases and is shrinking by 100,000 troops — thus the need for BRAC.
“If members of Congress don’t want to go along with it, then they’re endorsing waste,” said Todd Harrison, a military budget analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments/.../
In last year’s budget proposal, the Pentagon unsuccessfully requested rounds of BRAC in 2013 and 2015. But the budget didn’t back it up with dollars to pay for it.
This year, the Pentagon backed up their request for a 2015 BRAC with $2.4 billion over five years, Harrison said. But members of Congress are reluctant to allow a BRAC because they don’t want bases closing in their districts.