(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named freshman Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) Porker of the Month for doing everything short of writing to Santa Claus to derail the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.  Sen. Thune introduced legislation to delay BRAC indefinitely, threatened litigation against the Department of Defense (DOD), and may change his position on unrelated votes to “punish” the Bush administration.  South Dakota’s Ellsworth Air Force Base is on the DOD’s list of closings under review by the BRAC Commission.

A May 13 Air Force press release stated:  “The purpose of BRAC is to … make the most efficient and effective use of all the DOD’s resources and … improve operational efficiency, save taxpayer’s dollars, to advance transformation, and enhance combat effectiveness of U.S. military forces.”  Since BRAC was established in 1988, $18 billion has been saved and the DOD has divested itself of 20 percent excess capacity left over from the end of the Cold War.  The latest recommendations are expected to save an additional $48.8 billion over the next 20 years.

Sen. Thune is understandably embarrassed after promising during his Senate campaign that if he won, the White House would not close bases in South Dakota.  But BRAC is designed to exclude such political favoritism, and taxpayers should not be forced to fund unnecessary bases just to satisfy one senator’s campaign promise.

Sen. Thune introduced S. 1075, which would delay further BRAC action until “substantially all” troops return from Iraq and several pending DOD reports are released.  He claims the Pentagon should not be “closing a single base while we're at war,” and has threatened to sue the DOD.  However, service leaders have called the timing for BRAC “perfect” as it gives planners the opportunity to determine the best locations to reset units coming back from overseas.

Additionally, Sen. Thune introduced S. 1127, which would force the release of hundreds of thousands of pages of data on which the Pentagon based its recommendations.  Because much of it is classified, only members of Congress and their staffs with security clearances have been allowed to view the information thus far.  Sen. Thune has said that the opportunity to review the data is useless to him since he cannot share it with the public.  Sen. Thune’s motives appear to be gaining media coverage and pandering to his constituents, rather than understanding the Pentagon’s decisions.

In a thinly-veiled attempt to punish the Bush administration for not compromising the integrity of the BRAC process, Sen. Thune threatened to reverse his decision on ambassador to the United Nations nominee John Bolton, whom he had vocally supported in the past.  Sen. Thune has also signaled that he will vote against the administration on the upcoming CAFTA-DR free trade agreement and legislation regarding importation of drugs from Canada.

But Sen. Thune’s sabotage campaign is completely unnecessary to ensure the economic survival of his constituents.  A May 2005 Government Accountability Office report showed that towns affected by base closings continue to recover and fare well compared to average rates for unemployment and income growth.  Creative planning from local leaders has helped recover 90 percent of the civilian jobs lost during the past four rounds of base closings.
For throwing a congressional tantrum instead of seeking to understand Pentagon decisions, for impeding military transformation and placing parochial interests above the interests of taxpayers and national security, for threatening to alter votes based on political grudges, and for failing to show proper leadership for constituents that could soon face a difficult period of adjustment, CAGW names Sen. John Thune its Porker of the Month for June 2005.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.