Some Democrats Move To Delay Base Closings As the Defense Department presented arguments for base closings and realignments, Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX) introduced legislation to delay the 2005 round of closings for two years. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Congress that the 2005 round is necessary. His report to Congress estimates that the military has 24% excess capacity in its domestic bases. Rep. Ortiz argued that wartime is no time to be closing bases. The likely Democratic presidential nominee, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, also called for postponing the 2005 round in an interview with the Portsmouth (NH) Herald. The Pentagon’s point man on the issue, Raymond DuBois, deputy undersecretary for installations and environment, said the department has established no “quantitative capacity reduction targets.” Testifying March 25 before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, DuBois said, “An additional base realignment and closure (BRAC) round is essential to the department’s efforts to transform the armed forces to meet the threats to our national security and to execute our national strategy.” He said the realignment will “convert waste to war fighting by eliminating excess capacity.” Rumsfeld’s report estimated that previous closings are saving $7 billion every year. Efforts to cancel or delay the 2005 round failed in Congress last year, but one such proposal won 40 votes in the 100-member Senate. Because of the political fallout from base closings, Congress created a process that prevents members from trading votes to save their local installations. By May 16, 2005, the Defense secretary must present a list of bases to be closed or realigned. A majority of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, appointed by Congress and the president, can take any base off the hit list submitted by the Defense secretary, but they are not allowed to add more bases. The commission must submit its list to the White House by Sept. 8, 2005. If the president accepts the list, the closures become law in 45 days unless Congress blocks it. Congress must vote up or down on the entire list; it cannot choose individual bases to be saved. For the first time, a separate commission will review U.S. bases overseas. Published reports have said the Bush administration plans to withdraw some forces from Western Europe and close or downsize some of the larger U.S. installations there.