The House fiscal 2009 defense spending bill would scrap the base realignment and closure commission. According to a summary of the bill the BRAC commission has overextended its authority and the overall process has increased costs by 50 percent and minimized savings. The bill would repeal the commission from BRAC law and mandate that any future BRAC rounds be conducted with a new process.
Responding to a February 2008 report from the Defense Science Board concluding that DoD has failed to establish and meet operational energy goals due to a lack of leadership, the bill would establish a director for operational energy plans and programs and senior operational energy officials within each service.
Also energy-related, the measure requires DoD to implement the fully burdened cost of fuel in planning, capability requirements development and acquisition processes within three years of the bill’s enactment.
The bill further requires that during contingency operations, DoD certify that all other measures have been taken prior to issuing furlough notices on the basis of insufficient funds to continue operations.
