DATE: Saturday, June 14, 1997               TAG: 9706140312

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: HEARST NEWSPAPERS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   49 lines

CONGRESS HURLS MAJOR BARRIERS IN FRONT OF NEW BASE CLOSINGS

The Clinton administration's prospects for more military base closures have gone from bleak to bleaker as a Senate panel rejected a proposal that would have revived an independent base closing commission.

Earlier, a House committee took a different stance, but to the same effect, by approving a measure that would block funds for more closures.

Taken together, the congressional actions show that the administration faces tough odds in gaining approval for more closures.

But Pentagon officials were unwilling to concede defeat Friday. ``We're at the beginning of the (congressional) process and we're encouraged that people have remained open to hearing from us on the subject,'' said Susan Hansen, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

The administration wants more base closures so it can apply the savings toward a new generation of weapons systems such as the F-22 Air Force fighter and the Navy's F/A-18 E/F fighter-bomber.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, in a closed-door 9-9 vote, rejected an amendment to the military's annual authorization bill Thursday that would have reinstated the commission for more rounds of base closures in 1999 and in 2001, as the Pentagon has requested. The measure needed a majority vote to pass.

The proposal had bipartisan support and was sponsored by Republican Sens. Dan Coats of Indiana and John McCain of Arizona and Democratic Sens. Charles S. Robb of Virginia and Carl Levin of Michigan. Committee sources said two senators - a Republican and a Democrat - who had previously indicated their willingness to support the proposal voted against it. But the sources did not disclose their names.

McCain and Levin vowed Friday to press for the commission's reinstatement when the bill is brought to the Senate floor, possibly next week.

An official familiar with the proceedings said the staff of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., strongly opposed the amendment. Lott has spoken out against reviving the independent commission.

Many lawmakers are stinging from the 1995 round of base closures when President Clinton interceded in what had been a fairly nonpolitical process by preventing the shutdowns of Air Force facilities in electoral-rich Texas and California.

Since 1988, when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission was set up, the panel has ordered the closure of 97 major U.S. bases in four installments. After the 1995 round, the commission was disbanded. KEYWORDS: CONGRESS BASE CLOSINGS

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