Senate rebukes House authorizers on Oceana language

Senate defense authorizers rebuked their House counterparts for undermining an independent base-closure process by encouraging the Navy to assess the viability of moving its East Coast master jet base out of Virginia Beach. 

The competing report language, inserted by Virginia Sens. John Warner (R) and Jim Webb (D), directs the secretary of the Navy to expend the “absolute minimal” amount of manpower and resources if he decides to conduct a study to assess “once again” basing alternatives for Naval Air Station Oceana. 

{mosads}The Senate Armed Services Committee also asks the secretary of the Navy to provide the defense committees, before the start of any study, with a cost estimate and a list of activities that would be deferred or cancelled should resources be directed toward reassessing basing alternatives. 

“The committee is concerned that the Department of Defense continues to be inundated with requests to reconsider decisions made by the 2005 Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, which were approved by the President of the United States and reviewed by Congress without further action in November 2005,” the committee said in its report. 

“The requests serve to undermine the intent and integrity of the 2005 BRAC process by requiring the military services to justify decisions made by an independent commission.” 

Senate authorizers said the requests to reassess BRAC decisions “are made without regard to the resources and manpower required within the military services to faithfully and fully respond with the required information.” 

Oceana’s fate has become a point of contention among defense authorizers in both chambers. Rep. Solomon Ortiz’s (D-Texas) language in the readiness subcommittee mark roiled several members of the Virginia delegation. Ortiz directed the secretary of the Navy to assess the possibility of moving its master jet base out of Virginia Beach, and recommended a number of alternate locations, including in his own district.

“A request to the Secretary of the Navy to readdress a decision of the 2005 Defense BRAC round in order to satisfy parochial interests is not in the best interests of the United States Navy or the Department of Defense,” Senate authorizers said in their report. 

Among the suggested alternatives were Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., which is in Rep. Walter Jones’s (R) district; Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., in Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R) district; Naval Air Station Key West, Fla., in Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s (R) district; Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., in Rep. Jeff Miller’s (R) district; and Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., in Rep. Chip Pickering’s (R) district.

Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.), whose district currently contains Oceana, and Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) tried to eliminate Ortiz’s language during the full House Armed Services Committee markup, but failed. Instead, they watered down the language to encourage the Navy to study the issue if the secretary determines that moving the base is in the service’s best interest.

Though report language is not usually part of conference negotiations, the issue was seized upon by Warner, who fought tooth and nail a couple years ago to save Oceana. The 2005 BRAC commission concluded, independently of the Pentagon’s recommendations, that development around the base was hazardous to pilots and residents, and was hampering the Navy’s ability to train pilots properly. 

The commission urged that hundreds of F/A-18 Hornets and Super Hornets be relocated from Oceana to Cecil Field, a former Naval base outside Jacksonville, Fla. 

Opposition in Jacksonville derailed the plan, and Virginia Beach and state officials embraced most items on a list of commission recommendations aimed at controlling growth around Oceana. 

The sprawling base represents an economic boon for Virginia Beach, employing 12,000 people with an annual payroll of more than $700 million. 

Virginia Beach officials spent much of the last two years battling the federal government to keep the jets in the city and notched a victory in January when the Defense Department’s inspector general decided that Oceana would remain the master jet base. 

According to reports, Navy leaders signaled their satisfaction with local officials’ plans to restrict development around the base and told lawmakers they expected to retain the base as long as commercial and residential growth is curbed. 

Virginia Beach plans to spend $15 million a year to address the issue of encroachment raised by the BRAC commission. 

In testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, the secretary of the Navy and chief of naval operations said, “The service is committed to staying at Oceana as long as these things continue to go well,” according to language included in the Senate armed services panel report. 

Additionally Senate authorizers decided to fund advanced procurement for two Virginia-class submarines and overturned Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (D-Conn.) decision not to fund an alternate engine for the multi-national Joint Strike Fighter. Lieberman, the chairman of the Airland subcommittee long has opposed a second engine for the JSF. Pratt Whitney, which builds the primary engine for the JSF, is located in Connecticut. The second engine is being built by General Electric and Rolls Royce. 

Sens. Warner, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) were successful in overturning Lieberman’s decision. Their amendment does not allocate specific funding for the alternate engine but requires the Pentagon to obligate enough funding for the engine. The Pentagon’s 2008 budget request did not include funding for the Rolls Royce engine, but the House authorized $450 million in its version of the defense authorization bill.