BRAC planning continues despite Walter Reed bill

[babylonsister]

http://www.examiner.com/a-639057~BRAC_planning_continues_despite_Walter_Reed_bill.html

BRAC planning continues despite Walter Reed bill


WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Suburban D.C. officials who are navigating how to absorb the closure of Walter Reed Army Medical Center have not stalled their efforts in the face of the U.S. House’s passage of a bill to keep the hospital open.

The measure, which would bar the use of funds to close the troubled D.C. medical facility, is tagged onto a $124 billion supplemental Iraq spending bill that passed 218-212 on Friday. But the full Senate has not yet voted on the bill, which faces the promise of a veto from the president, who opposes provisions that would mandate a 2008 troop withdrawal.

The legislation has left uncertain the future of Walter Reed and the two military hospitals in the region that would take on its functions after its proposed 2011 closure. Walter Reed is slated to close under the military’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure mandate, with its functions transferring to Bethesda National Naval Medical Center and Fort Belvoir’s DeWitt Hospital in Fairfax County. The proposal to keep Walter Reed open emerged after a scandal involving neglect of soldiers in outpatient care surfaced.

“ has a long way to go in Congress, and the president seems to be firmly committed to the BRAC decisions that were made in 2005, which he signed into law,” said William Bronrott, a Maryland delegate who sits on a BRAC planning committee in Montgomery County. “It’s pretty much just speculation as to what this might or might not mean for the merging of Walter Reed and National Naval Medical Center.”

He said the planning for the expansion at Bethesda continues; they are still expecting a broad environmental impact statement from the military that would shed light on the effect of the shift. Officials in Virginia have also said they plan to move forward with BRAC hospital planning.

The National Naval Medical Center is slated to expand by 1.1 million square feet and 1,400 new staff members. DeWitt Hospital would expand from 45 beds to 120 and take on a variety of new functions.

[Solo_in_MD]

1. Assuming we are out of Iraq in a reasonable time frame WRAMC should be BRACed

The BRAC process was a rigorous and as politically independent as you can get in Washington. Lots of facilites are being closed and consolidated. Unless there is active fighting going on, the right thing is to close it.

Note that until the Senate concurs, BRAC is still law and WRAMC will close. Stopping the planning now would be premature.

Many here are astonished at the number of bases the US military has. WRAMC is counted as one of them.