Base Closings

Base Closings
Reuters, May 11, 1999

Defense Secretary William Cohen and the Pentagon Joint Chiefs of Staff Tuesday urged the Senate Armed Services Committee to approve two new rounds of U.S. military base closings beginning in 2001. In separate letters to Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the committee's chairman, Cohen and the nation's top military officers said more domestic bases must be closed to save money for military operations and new arms purchases. The panel is expected to vote as early as this week on a proposal to pave the way for two rounds of base closings in 2001 and 2003 when it marks up the fiscal year 2000 military spending authorization bill.