Defense Bill Advances Despite Base Dispute

The House on Tuesday approved a compromise defense bill that includes a controversial plan that critics charged would imperil efforts to convert McClellan Air Force base in Sacramento into a privately run military subcontractor.

The House approved the defense authorization bill, 286 to 123, sending it to the Senate for approval. If the legislation passes the Senate, White House officials say, they will recommend a presidential veto because of the dispute focusing on McClellan and an Air Force base in Texas.

Overall, the $268.3-billion package would provide the Defense Department with $2.6 billion more than the Clinton administration requested, including a 2.8% pay raise for military personnel.

However, California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both Democrats, pledged to try to derail the bill because of a provision that they say would cripple the Sacramento base’s efforts to remain viable as a private aircraft maintenance depot. The California senators are expected to be joined in their opposition to the bill by Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Phil Gramm, both Republicans, who want to ensure that Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio also is able to operate as a private depot.

Under provisions of the compromise worked out by a House-Senate conference committee, the California and Texas bases, which are to be closed by the Pentagon, could be converted into privately run operations that would compete against existing government-run bases in Utah, Oklahoma and Georgia. But the compromise would require the Pentagon to perform at least half of its heavy aircraft maintenance work at the three bases still operated by the military.

Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento) said the bill would give an unfair advantage to the remaining military bases. “I’m merely asking for the private contractor to be given a level playing field to bid for the jobs,” he said.

The debate over the base closing issue goes back to a 1995 report by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, which urged the Pentagon to close McCellan and Kelly and transfer their duties to remaining bases. Clinton accepted the report’s recommendations, but attempted to save the California and Texas bases by permitting them to be run by private interests.

A legislative “Depot Caucus”--composed of lawmakers from Utah, Oklahoma and Georgia--reacted angrily to the White House intervention and pushed a provision forbidding the proposed privately run bases in California and Texas from working on military aircraft.

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Times staff writer Faye Fiore contributed to this story.