No BRAC Today

The Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee this morning strongly rejected the Obama administration's request for another round of military base closings in fiscal year 2013. Subcommittee Chairwoman Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said the Pentagon has not convinced her that another BRAC round is needed.

The subcommittee marked up its portion of the FY-13 DOD authorization bill today in a public session -- the only open session the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold as it works through the authorization bill.

McCaskill said the subcommittee made only two additions to the DOD budget request: $59 million was added to the Defense Department inspector general's budget, and $21 million was added to the Pentagon's corrosion control program. McCaskill explained that based on the subcommittee's calculations the taxpayer will get a 22-to-1 return on the additional IG money and a 14-to-1 return on the extra corrosion money.

The subcommittee's mark caps operations and maintenance spending at $200 million and codifies Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's edict that the military services and defense agencies will have an audit of budgetary resources prepared by the end of FY-14, McCaskill said.

The full committee expects to complete the authorization bill mark-up by Thursday, according to the committee's website.