Indiana congressmen lobby for military bases

Six Indiana Republican congressmen say they believe the state's military bases should survive the upcoming round of closings because they are valuable commodities.\n"We feel pretty good right now," said Rep. Steve Buyer, who is chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. "We feel good because there's a great story to tell."\nThe congressmen focused most of their attention during a news conference Wednesday on the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, about 30 miles southwest of Bloomington, which has about 4,000 government workers and contractors.\nThe Department of Defense is scheduled to release a list of proposed base closures or realignments by May 16. The Base Realignment and Closure commission will then consider Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's recommendations and send its own recommendation to President Bush by Sept. 8. The president must send a list to Congress by Nov. 7.\nOfficials won't specify how many of more than 425 bases are targeted -- but say the military has 24 percent more capacity than it needs.\nCrane benefited from base closings in 1991 when other Navy laboratories were consolidated and brought there, but the facility barely survived the 1995 closings.\nRep. John Hostettler, whose district includes Crane, said the installation is vital. He said the Pentagon was looking at which bases have military value to the war fighter as well as which bases have the ability to work jointly with the various armed forces.\nHostettler said he believes Pentagon knows the importance of Crane, which has tasks such as modifying weapons, testing laser--guided bombs and storing tons of ordnance. He said while Crane is a naval facility, its largest tenant is the Army. He said the base also serves the Marines, the Coast Guard and the Air Force.\n"Crane has been joint, you might say, before joint was cool," Hostettler said.\nRep. Mark Souder said Crane is important to the entire state, saying many businesses in his northeastern Indiana district supply the center.\n"Crane isn't just an issue for that district, it's an issue for the whole state," Souder said.\nRep. Mike Sodrel said the reason to keep Crane operations in Indiana is the same as it was when it was founded in 1941 -- it is harder for "a terrorist or a saboteur to reach a facility that is located on the heartland than it is a facility along the coast."\nThe congressmen, including Rep. Chris Chocola, also talked about the importance of Grissom Air Reserve Base, midway between South Bend and Indianapolis, which has about 1,700 military and civilian employees and is home to the 434th Air Refueling Wing.\n"They (Grissom's workers) have proven themselves, and the base has proven itself, with regard to its multi-- use, having all four reserve facilities engage in these wars," Buyer said.\nSouder said the Pentagon can't abandon the Great Lakes region, saying the nation can't just keep bases along the coasts. He said there is a need to have a presence of military in the Midwest for recruiting purposes alone.\n"It is very important for the defense of the nation and for the economy of Indiana that these bases stay open," Rep. Dan Burton said.