Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) are considering another round of base closure and realignment, which would be the first since 2005. McCain, who serves as SASC chairman, said Tuesday that “Sen. Reed and I are seriously considering the issue of BRAC” during a hearing on future military budgets. Reed is the ranking Democrat on the committee. The failure of Congress over the past decade to consider BRAC, McCain said, is “an act of cowardice,” which he compared to the automatic spending caps of the Budget Control Act of 2011. “It’s authentication that we can’t make the tough decisions ourselves,” McCain admitted. The comments on BRAC were part of a larger committee discussion on how to raise US military spending. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) raised the BRAC issue, saying “we’re impeding some of [the military’s] progress” by protecting bases in Congress members’ home states. “I think it has to be considered,” McCain concluded, “as all things should be on the table.”
See also: The Long Road for BRAC from the February 2016 issue of Air Force Magazine.