While the local liberal bloggers perversely hope for bad news about Ellsworth Air Force Base (cuz it'll damage John Thune!) in the soon-to-be-upon-us Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, it's worth considering how we got to this point. What brought us to the point that we're worried about Ellsworth being closed or realigned? Well, a lot of the blame can be laid at former Senator Tom Daschle's and current senior Senator Tim Johnson's feet. The story the local media is (typically) ignoring is that Senator Daschle was in a position to prevent BRAC from ever happening, but instead, he used his position as the MAJORITY Leader of the United States Senate to push BRAC forward. Consider the following facts.
On September 25, 2001, the Senate, led by MAJORITY Leader Daschle, was debating the fiscal year 2002 defense authorization bill. The bill included "Title XXIX" which was language requiring a base closure process in 2003. In a last-ditch effort, Senator Jim Bunning introduced an amendment to eliminate the base closure process from the bill. A motion to table the Bunning Amendment was made and voted upon. The motion to table was agreed to by a narrow 53-47 vote, which kept the base closure provision in the bill. BOTH Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson voted to support base closure. (You can access the record of the roll call vote HERE).
Here's how the September 30, 2001 edition of the Aberdeen American News reported the news of the Daschle-Johnson support for BRAC:
Base closings: The Senate on Sept. 25 approved, 53 for and 47 against, a round of military base closing to begin in 2003[.] The vote occurred during debate on the fiscal 2002 defense budget (S 1438), which remained in debate.... Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said "With the issue of homeland security and all the other changes that will occur as a result of this country's determination to protect itself, we ought to...reserve the question of what should be our base structure."
A yes vote backed a fifth round of base closings.
North Dakota: Kent Conrad-D, voted no. Byron Dorgan-D., voted no.
South Dakota: Thomas Daschle-D voted yes. Tim Johnson-D, voted yes.
The House was adamantly opposed to the bill, and even held up the defense authorization bill in conference specifically because of the BRAC provision. But the Senate conferees, appointed by none other than Tom Daschle, stuck to their guns to keep the BRAC provision in the bill. In the end, an agreement was reached to have a round of base closures in 2005 instead of 2003. And that's where we are today.
In 2001, Tom Daschle was the MAJORITY Leader, in a position to prevent BRAC from ever happening. But instead of working to prevent a BRAC process that would put Ellsworth on the chopping block, Daschle did all he could as majority leader to make BRAC happen. He whipped up enough votes to defeat an anti-BRAC effort by Senator Bunning, voted for BRAC himself, and appointed conferees who refused to back down from their demands for BRAC in the face of adamant opposition to BRAC by the House. Now we're told Senator Thune is solely responsible for ensuring the future of Ellsworth. I'm sure Senator Thune has gladly shouldered that burden. But it's important to remember that Senator Thune is being held responsible to clean up the mess Senator Daschle and Senator Johnson made.
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