The House Armed Services Committee is leaving the door open for future base closures although its proposed defense bill kills any hope for a round of savings in fiscal 2016.
The committee requested in its budget proposal that the Defense Department do a new excess capacity study, the first step in determining how much vacant and underused property the Pentagon has.
The last such study was performed before the last base realignment and closure, or BRAC, round in 2005. Since then, the Pentagon has said that it has at least 24 percent excess capacity and maybe even more, since the military has steadily cut its end strength and consolidated over the last decade as operations in Iraq ended in 2011.
However, congressional opponents of a new BRAC round have argued that it would be unwise to shutter facilities the Defense Department may later need as global threats increase.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the panel, does not agree with the committee’s decision to delay any base closure rounds given the current budget environment. His staff said he will offer an amendment to add closures to the bill next week.
