Targeted Bases Unlikely to Stay Open

Posted on: Sep. 7th, 2005 || Source: washingtonpost.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

WASHINGTON -- The military base closings that the Pentagon and a commission have recommended are likely to be approved by President Bush and Congress, leaving communities around the country with little hope that targeted facilities will be spared.

Bush is now focused on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast rather than on base closures, analysts said. Scrapping the closure process now _ after a nine-member commission has completed its review of the Pentagon plan _ could leave him open to criticism when his poll numbers already are at a low point for his presidency.

"The president has got much bigger issues to worry about right now," said Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va.

Congress, too, is consumed with other priorities. And a GOP-led effort in the Senate to derail the process _ one that Republican leaders privately feared could embarrass them _ has largely fizzled out.

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