From the The Vieques Times
Posted on 05/28/2003 3:55:38 PM PDT by PARodrig
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee recommended a 50 percent cut in funding for the largest military base in Puerto Rico, the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station.
The recommendation was made in approving the national defense policy bill for the fiscal year that begins October 1. The bill passed both Houses of the Congress late Thursday.
The Committee report "strongly" supported a Navy plan to reduce operations at Roosevelt Roads, which is located on the eastern side of Puerto Rico’s main island. The plan will cut employment at the base by 65 percent and "reduce the number of military operational and administrative units [at the base] by 60 percent" over an 18-month period.
The Committee said the reductions warranted a cut in the base’s operating budget from $58 million to $29 million.
Its report noted that the base is being downsized because of the closure of the Atlantic Fleet’s longtime weapons training range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and the relocation of Vieques-based training functions to the States [and adjacent waters].
The Committee agreed with the Navy that, "[a]s a result, the overhead structure at [Roosevelt Roads] is ‘. . . significantly oversized for the remaining missions and must be reduced.’"
It backed the "plan to dis-establish or reassign military administrative and operational units currently located at [Roosevelt Roads] that were previously connected with training at Vieques." Supporting training on the Vieques range and in nearby waters had been Roosevelt Road’s major function.
The Senate action was an unsurprising setback for the goal of Puerto Rico Governor Sila Calderon ("commonwealth"/no national party) to have operations at Roosevelt Roads maintained at the Vieques range training level despite the end of the training -- which she sought. The commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Robert Natter, recently said that the base is "a waste of taxpayer dollars" without the range.
Earlier, the Navy’s highest-ranking officer, Chief of Naval Operations Vernon Clarke, made a similar suggestion to the House Armed Services Committee.
Calderon’s pleas to have base operations continued despite the end of Vieques training are falling on ears that are particularly deaf to them because she did not honor an agreement between her predecessor, Pedro Rossello (statehood/D) and the federal government regarding the range. Her refusal to recognize the agreement as well as her intentional violations of it caused senior military officials to feel that Puerto Rico is not a reliable location for military facilities investments.
The Roosevelt Roads cutback is the latest in a series of military cutbacks in Puerto Rico influenced by Calderon’s violations of the Vieques agreement. Last year, the Army’s Southern Command moved away from the territory just two years after moving there.
The command had been located in Puerto Rico -- at Fort Buchanan in San Juan -- due to Rossello’s efforts. Calderon, however, did not seek to keep it in the islands until after the decision to move it had really been made. She also contributed to a political atmosphere that made officers feel uncomfortable. In addition, later, the Congress rescinded an appropriation of $32 million for improvements at Fort Buchanan.
Calderon’s official representative in the Congress, Resident Commissioner Anibal Acevedo Vila, has tried to convince officials in Washington that that the waters off Vieques should still be used for naval training and that Roosevelt Roads is still needed militarily. He has not succeeded. Calderon does not want the base to be closed because of the economic impact, especially on the community near the base, which is located in the municipality of Ceiba.
Closure is a serious prospect in light of the closure of the Vieques range and of the views of top military officials, like Clarke and Natter. The views are shared by some key members of the Congress.
The base’s fate will probably be ultimately determined in 2005 by a "base realignment and closure commission" established by law that will consider consolidations of military facilities to cut unneeded costs.
Listen up everyone, next time you see Sharpton and Kennedy headed to your area to protest, remember the unemployed people of PR and shut the door on them.
Yeah, it's going to be nice and peaceful while people are scrounging around for jobs.
Can you say that you are with us or against us is now part of the lexicon of all parts of the government. Can people see that when Powell said, "France must pay for it's decisions." that GWB has set a new tone and the NO means NO. There will be no "depends on what the meaning of is is." in this White House.
From the The Vieques Times
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