SENATOR COLLINS BACKS EFFORT TO DELAY BASE CLOSING PROCESS (BRAC)

WASHINGTON, D.C. --Senator Susan Collins, who is a Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has cosponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that would delay the 2005 round of domestic base closings by two years, until 2007. The proposal would require the Department of Defense to close only military installations located outside the US in 2005. In addition, it would provide for expedited consideration of the proposal for base closings outside the US.

"Now is not the time for us to be closing our bases," said Senator Collins. "We are reevaluating the entire force structure of our military and it is very likely that the Army will be enlarged," she added.

Senator Collins, who is Maine's only delegation member to serve on the Armed Services Committee, has worked with the Maine and New Hampshire Congressional Delegations to ensure that the Department of Defense is fully aware of the value that Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery and the Brunswick Naval Air Station are to our nation's national security.

A US House panel recently approved a proposal, which Senator Collins' supports, to delay BRAC by two years. The Senate is expected to consider the Lott amendment this week, which is cosponsored by Senator Collins and Senator Olympia Snowe among others.

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