Several names floated for base closing commission

[The Straight Story]

Several names floated for base closing commission

By George Cahlink
[e-mail]
Key lawmakers are finalizing recommendations to the White House for the names of members to serve on the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

By March 15, President Bush must submit nominees to Congress for the nine-member, nonpartisan commission that will decide which domestic military bases should be closed or realigned this year. Federal law requires the president to pick three nominees. The House Speaker and Senate Majority Leader get two choices apiece, and the House and Senate minority leaders each pick one nominee.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., this week announced his recommendations would be former Rep. James Hansen, R-Utah, who served on the House Armed Services Committee and was a leading defender of military depots, and former Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner, an Illinois native who was also chief of staff for President George H.W. Bush.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, has suggested former Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., who spent 20 years representing the Sacramento Valley in Congress and was a key player on the military construction appropriations subcommittee. Pelosi also recommended Wade Sanders, a San Diego lawyer who served as a deputy assistant Navy secretary during the Clinton administration.

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