THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100309
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
North Carolina Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. said Thursday he wants to ask members of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission why they want to transfer Navy jets from Cherry Point Naval Air Station to Oceana Naval Base in Virginia Beach.
Jones said military installations in North Carolina for the most part escaped the BRAC ax, but North Carolina officials are concerned about the decision to move the jets to Virginia.
``The 1993 BRAC commission said they were going to move additional aircraft to Cherry Point,'' Jones said. ``There was a lot of money and effort spent preparing for those aircraft. We're working with Gov. (James B.) Hunt, and Senators (Lauch) Faircloth and (Jesse) Helms to find out what the economic and military justification is for moving those aircraft.''
On the whole, however, the Third District Republican said the district's installations fared well.
``I prefer to look at the positive,'' Jones said. ``The BRAC recommended that 146 installations be closed. We were fortunate in that all of our bases will remain pretty much intact.''
Turning to the proposed Oregon Inlet jetties, Jones said a bill he sponsored - which would transfer 100 acres of Department of the Interior property to the Army Corps of Engineers - would ease the way for eventual construction.
Congress authorized construction of the jetties in 1970, but the project has been delayed for a quarter-century because of problems acquiring land, as well as environmental and economic concerns.
Jones said his bill, currently before a House transportation subcommittee, would help clear one of those hurdles.
On another fisheries-related matter, Jones said the status of North Carolina's membership on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will be up to the General Assembly.
Jones said there were no new developments concerning the Miner Management Service's next five-year plan for offshore oil and gas exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Earlier this year, Jones wrote to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, asking that North Carolina's coastline be excluded from the next five-year plan, set to take effect in 1997. Jones said he hopes to meet with Babbitt soon to discuss the issue.
Jones said he supports the concepts set forth in a new Republican tax proposal introduced Thursday.
The bill would cut the capital gains tax by 50 percent, provide tax credits of $500 per child, abolish the marriage penalty, and make IRAs fully deductible.
Jones also said that he expects the balanced-budget amendment to come up for another Senate vote before year's end.
``When senators go home in April (for the Easter recess), I believe they're going to hear a lot from their constituents about the balanced-budget amendment. Eighty percent of the American public supports a balanced budget. I believe it will come up for a vote later in the year, and it will pass.''
The bill missed the two-thirds majority needed for passage by one vote.
The first-term congressman also defended cuts in the Child Nutrition Program.
``We've eliminated one whole level of the bureaucracy,'' Jones said. ``By putting the program in the hands of the states, we're going to have more money to help the children who need it.''
Jones praised the work of the 104th Congress, now approaching its third month in power.
``This is the hardest-working group I've ever been a part of,'' he said. ``We've been working 12 to 14 hours a day. And we're getting the support of conservative Democrats, who are supporting our legislation because it's the right thing to do.''
KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASES BASE CLOSINGS by CNB