The Pentagon’s proposal for another round of base closings and realignments appears to be dead on arrival in Congress.

Facing $487 billion in budget cuts over the next decade, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called for a new Base Realignment and Closing Commission along with shrinking the size of the armed forces and cutting or delaying some weapons programs.

When the BRAC proposal is formally submitted, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon said he will “kill it.” Speaking to the Reserve Officers Association Feb. 1, McKeon, R-CA, declared, “I am not going to put it in our bill,” Federal Times reported.

At the same conference the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said if Congress rejects a BRAC round, he would ask, “OK, where do you want me to tinker?” He said Congress would have to find other savings to achieve the $487 billion cuts it has ordered. “I didn’t pass the Budget Control Act,” Dempsey said. “I didn’t ask for this cut.”

The Pentagon’s blueprint for the spending reductions targets many contract programs beyond expensive weapons systems. Panetta said the Defense Department will save $60 billion over five years by “improving business practices.” He promised “more aggressive and competitive contacting practices and reductions in contract services.”

A Pentagon fact sheet lists additional contract savings through better use of IT, improved inventory management and postponement of some military construction.

In a Jan. 26 briefing, Panetta said spending could increase in areas including cyberwarfare, unmanned aircraft and missiles. He said he was committed to “maintaining the vitality of a healthy industrial base.”

If Congress does approve a BRAC round, Army chief of staff Gen. Ray Odierno told reporters he does not anticipate closing any big Army bases.

Air Force chief of staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said the service would cut nearly 300 planes and almost 10,000 personnel under the Pentagon plan, making some of its bases candidates for shutdown. Most personnel cuts would be in the Air National Guard.

While Panetta said a BRAC round is the logical way to reduce the military infrastructure, base closings cost money in the short run rather than saving it. The 2005 BRAC round, which was just completed last year, closed or shrank more than 800 bases and cost about $35 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office.