SB 2017-054 - Fiscal Responsibility in our Military Act (Passed--to HOUSE!)

[Leinad]

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Sponsor: Senator Leinad (Fed-GA) & Senator Scott (Lab-NH)

I now open this to the floor for debate.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I was pleased to collaborate with Senator Leinad in producing this legislation.  I think the bill is self-explanatory, but essentially our aim is to close military bases which are found not to have a substantial impact on our security or that of our allies.

[Anna Komnene]

I definitely like the idea of downsizing some of our military footprint, but I wonder if it might be a good idea to add some guidelines for what "useful" means.  We have bases in a lot of areas, from western Europe to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.  I'm not an expert on military bases, but I'd guess there are a lot of different reasons why some of those are there and could be useful for different reasons.  It might be a good idea to add in a veto power too in case there's something very important that gets overlooked by the committee.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I definitely like the idea of downsizing some of our military footprint, but I wonder if it might be a good idea to add some guidelines for what "useful" means.  We have bases in a lot of areas, from western Europe to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.  I'm not an expert on military bases, but I'd guess there are a lot of different reasons why some of those are there and could be useful for different reasons.  It might be a good idea to add in a veto power too in case there's something very important that gets overlooked by the committee.

     Indeed, we may want to outline what criteria these decisions would be made upon to help guide the committee through the process.

[Leinad]

I definitely like the idea of downsizing some of our military footprint, but I wonder if it might be a good idea to add some guidelines for what "useful" means.  We have bases in a lot of areas, from western Europe to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific region.  I'm not an expert on military bases, but I'd guess there are a lot of different reasons why some of those are there and could be useful for different reasons.  It might be a good idea to add in a veto power too in case there's something very important that gets overlooked by the committee.

Great ideas, I'll try to write up an amendment if no one else does by then.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yes, I've been thinking of a criteria that could be used to determine a military's usefulness.  So far I've come up with:

- Effectiveness in deterring terrorism and protecting national security
- Cost efficiency and management
- Whether our allies think our presence is needed
- How our presence in certain areas affects our image and relationship with people living in the region

I'm sure there are other factors to consider, though.

[Anna Komnene]

Yeah those are good idea.  Another thing similar to allies needing it might be
-whether the base is needed to fulfill a mutual defense agreement.

I'm not a big fan of defense pacts but we should at least keep our word if we say we will.

It might be a good idea in some cases to coordinate a transition plan for the local economy with the country/town/city too so losing the base isn't too jarring for the people there.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

We also should be willing to talk with Allies and see if there is a way to accomplish the same degree of defense, but it in different and more efficient way.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Another thing to be mindful of is that whenever the US removes something that Russia considers to be pointing at them, that could send the wrong message about certain actions be it Aleppo or Ukraine.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Here's a preliminary amendment.  More can be added to it as we see necessary:

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[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Looks pretty encompassing of all the concerns.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What is the story here?

[Leinad]

Amendment adopted (definitely no objection from me).

Anyone interested in doing anything else with this, or shall we go to a final vote?

[Anna Komnene]

Just to clarify, do the MBIC or MAD actually make the final decision on removing bases or do they just make recommendations to the president/SoIA/SoS?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

From my understanding of the text, the MBIC makes the final decision.  Do we feel that giving veto power to the president or SOS is appropriate?

[Clyde1998]

I'm happy with this bill.

I call for a final vote on this, if no-one has any additional amendments.

[Clyde1998]

I call for a final vote on this, if no-one has any additional amendments.

[Leinad]

With no objections, I open a 48-hour final vote on this bill.

[LLR]

Aye

[Clyde1998]

Aye

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Aye

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Aye.

[Anna Komnene]

Aye

[LLR]

With no objections, I open a 48-hour final vote on this bill.

Also way past due...

[Leinad]

Another one I missed, vote Aye FTR on, and passes to the House 5(or 6)-0.