Military leaders have pleaded with Congress for years to allow the closure of tens of thousands of excess military bases around the world, a move that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says could save the services $2 billion annually.

But lawmakers had blocked shuttering any facilities under the Base Realignment and Closure program. On Monday, the Pentagon announced that it has given up on the effort for now and did not even mention the so-called BRAC program in its newly released 2019 budget request.

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