Though the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been placed on hold, the District of Columbia still wants to study what impact the closing or downsizing of the hospital and other military installations will have on the city’s economy.

The District was expected to lose at least 5,600 jobs with the closing of Walter Reed by 2011 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, but the signing of the Iraq war supplemental bill into law late last month prevents the shutdown until equivalent facilities are built at Bethesda Naval Medical Center or Fort Belvoir.