II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1902 

To limit cost growth associated with major defense base closures and realignments implemented as part of the 2005 round of defense base closure 

and realignment. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2007 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. LAUTENBERG) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To limit cost growth associated with major defense base 

closures and realignments implemented as part of the 

2005 round of defense base closure and realignment. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘BRAC Cost Overruns 

5 Protection Act of 2007’’ or the ‘‘BRAC COP Act of 

6 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON COST GROWTH ASSOCIATED WITH 

2 2005 ROUND OF DEFENSE BASE CLOSURE 

3 AND REALIGNMENT. 

4 The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 

5 1990 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101–510; 10 

6 U.S.C. 2687 note) is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 2915. LIMITATION ON COST GROWTH APPLICABLE TO 

9 MAJOR CLOSURES AND REALIGNMENTS 

10 UNDER 2005 ROUND. 

11 ‘‘(a) SEMIANNUAL REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION

12 COSTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than October 7, 

14 2007, and every 180 days thereafter, the Secretary 

15 of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense 

16 committees a report on the costs of implementing 

17 the recommendations of the Commission contained 

18 in the report transmitted to Congress on September 

19 15, 2005, under section 2903(e) that relate to clo20 sures and realignments that have not been fully im21 plemented. 

22 ‘‘(2) ESTIMATES REQUIRED.—Each report sub23 mitted under paragraph (1) shall include, for each 

24 individual recommended major base closure or re25 alignment— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the baseline estimate of one-time im2 plementation costs; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the current estimate of one-time im4 plementation costs, including any increase at5 tributable to actual or anticipated costs due to 

6 inflation. 

7 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL PROCEDURES REQUIRED TO ADDRESS

8 CERTAIN COST INCREASES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.—In the 

10 event that the Secretary of Defense determines, 

11 based on a report prepared under subsection (a), 

12 that the current estimate of one-time implementa13 tion costs for an individual major base closure or re14 alignment is at least 25 percent greater than the 

15 baseline estimate of one-time implementation costs 

16 for such closure or realignment (in this section re17 ferred to as a ‘substantially over budget major base 

18 closure or realignment’), the Secretary shall prompt19 ly provide notification of such determination, includ20 ing the amount of the expected increase and the 

21 date the determination was made, to the chairman 

22 and ranking member of each of the congressional de23 fense committees. 

24 ‘‘(2) BUSINESS PLAN TO CONTROL COSTS.— 

25 The Secretary of Defense shall develop a business 


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1 plan to reduce the costs of any individual substan2 tially over budget major base closure or realignment 

3 to a level less than 25 percent greater than the base4 line estimate for such closure or realignment. 

5 ‘‘(c) IMPLEMENTATION OF SUBSTANTIALLY OVER

6 BUDGET MAJOR BASE CLOSURES AND REALIGNMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) RECOMMENDATIONS.—Not later than 45 

8 days after an individual base closure or realignment 

9 is identified in a report required under subsection 

10 (a) as a substantially over budget major base closure 

11 or realignment, the Secretary of Defense shall sub12 mit to the President a recommendation regarding 

13 whether to continue implementation of such closure 

14 or realignment. 

15 ‘‘(2) JUSTIFICATION REQUIRED.—In the event 

16 the Secretary recommends that an individual sub17 stantially over budget major base closure or realign18 ment should continue to be implemented despite the 

19 excessive cost overruns, the Secretary shall include 

20 the justification for continuing such closure or re21 alignment. 

22 ‘‘(3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

23 30 days after receiving a recommendation regarding 

24 whether to continue implementation of an individual 

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1 alignment under paragraph (1), the President shall 

2 submit to Congress a report including the rec3 ommendation of the President regarding the imple4 mentation of such closure or realignment. 

5 ‘‘(4) CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of De7 fense may not continue or discontinue the im8 plementation of an individual substantially over 

9 budget major base closure or realignment rec10 ommended by the President under paragraph 

11 (3) if a joint resolution is enacted, in accord12 ance with the provisions of subsection (d), dis13 approving such recommendation of the Presi14 dent before the earlier of— 

15 ‘‘(i) the end of the 45-day period be16 ginning on the date on which the President 

17 submits to Congress a report under para18 graph (3) that includes a recommendation 

19 regarding the implementation of an indi20 vidual substantially over budget major base 

21 closure or realignment; or 

22 ‘‘(ii) the adjournment of Congress 

23 sine die for the session during which such 

24 report is submitted. 


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1 ‘‘(B) COMPUTATION OF PERIOD.—For pur2 poses of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph 

3 and paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (d), 

4 the days on which either House of Congress is 

5 not in session because of an adjournment of 

6 more than three days to a day certain shall be 

7 excluded in the computation of a period. 

8 ‘‘(d) CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF REC9 OMMENDATION REGARDING IMPLEMENTATION OF SUB10 STANTIALLY OVER BUDGET MAJOR BASE CLOSURES OR

11 REALIGNMENT.— 

12 ‘‘(1) TERMS OF THE RESOLUTION.—For pur13 poses of subsection (c)(4), the term ‘joint resolution’ 

14 means only a joint resolution which is introduced 

15 within the 10-day period beginning on the date on 

16 which the President submits to Congress a report 

17 under subsection (c)(3) that includes a recommenda18 tion regarding the implementation of a substantially 

19 over budget major base closure or realignment, 

20 and— 

21 ‘‘(A) which does not have a preamble; 

22 ‘‘(B) the matter after the resolving clause 

23 of which is as follows: ‘That Congress dis24 approves the recommendation of the President 

25 on llllll with respect to 


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1 llllll’, the blank spaces being filled in 

2 with the appropriate date and the name of a 

3 military installation or other information that 

4 identifies the individual closure or realignment, 

5 respectively; and 

6 ‘‘(C) the title of which is as follows: ‘Joint 

7 resolution disapproving the recommendation of 

8 the President regarding implementation of a 

9 substantially over budget major base closure or 

10 realignment.’. 

11 ‘‘(2) REFERRAL.—A resolution described in 

12 paragraph (1) that is introduced in the House of 

13 Representatives shall be referred to the Committee 

14 on Armed Services of the House of Representatives. 

15 A resolution described in paragraph (1) introduced 

16 in the Senate shall be referred to the Committee on 

17 Armed Services of the Senate. 

18 ‘‘(3) DISCHARGE.—If the committee to which a 

19 resolution described in paragraph (1) is referred has 

20 not reported such resolution (or an identical resolu21 tion) by the end of the 20-day period beginning on 

22 the date on which the President submits to Congress 

23 a report under subsection (c)(3) that includes a rec24 ommendation regarding the implementation of a 

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1 alignment, such committee shall be, at the end of 

2 such period, discharged from further consideration 

3 of such resolution, and such resolution shall be 

4 placed on the appropriate calendar of the House in5 volved. 

6 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERATION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—On or after the third 

8 day after the date on which the committee to 

9 which such a resolution is referred has re10 ported, or has been discharged (under para11 graph (3)) from further consideration of, such 

12 a resolution, it is in order (even though a pre13 vious motion to the same effect has been dis14 agreed to) for any Member of the respective 

15 House to move to proceed to the consideration 

16 of the resolution. A Member may make the mo17 tion only on the day after the calendar day on 

18 which the Member announces to the House con19 cerned the Member’s intention to make the mo20 tion, except that, in the case of the House of 

21 Representatives, the motion may be made with22 out such prior announcement if the motion is 

23 made by direction of the committee to which 

24 the resolution was referred. All points of order 

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1 ation of the resolution) are waived. The motion 

2 is highly privileged in the House of Representa3 tives and is privileged in the Senate and is not 

4 debatable. The motion is not subject to amend5 ment, or to a motion to postpone, or to a mo6 tion to proceed to the consideration of other 

7 business. A motion to reconsider the vote by 

8 which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to 

9 shall not be in order. If a motion to proceed to 

10 the consideration of the resolution is agreed to, 

11 the respective House shall immediately proceed 

12 to consideration of the joint resolution without 

13 intervening motion, order, or other business, 

14 and the resolution shall remain the unfinished 

15 business of the respective House until disposed 

16 of. 

17 ‘‘(B) DEBATE.—Debate on the resolution, 

18 and on all debatable motions and appeals in 

19 connection therewith, shall be limited to not 

20 more than 2 hours, which shall be divided 

21 equally between those favoring and those oppos22 ing the resolution. An amendment to the resolu23 tion is not in order. A motion further to limit 

24 debate is in order and not debatable. A motion 

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1 sideration of other business, or a motion to re2 commit the resolution is not in order. A motion 

3 to reconsider the vote by which the resolution is 

4 agreed to or disagreed to is not in order. 

5 ‘‘(C) VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE.—Imme6 diately following the conclusion of the debate on 

7 a resolution described in paragraph (1) and a 

8 single quorum call at the conclusion of the de9 bate if requested in accordance with the rules of 

10 the appropriate House, the vote on final pas11 sage of the resolution shall occur. 

12 ‘‘(D) APPEALS.—Appeals from the deci13 sions of the Chair relating to the application of 

14 the rules of the Senate or the House of Rep15 resentatives, as the case may be, to the proce16 dure relating to a resolution described in para17 graph (1) shall be decided without debate. 

18 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERATION BY OTHER HOUSE.— 

19 ‘‘(A) PROCEDURES.—If, before the passage 

20 by one House of a resolution of that House de21 scribed in paragraph (1), that House receives 

22 from the other House a resolution described in 

23 paragraph (1), then the following procedures 

24 shall apply: 


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1 ‘‘(i) The resolution of the other House 

2 shall not be referred to a committee and 

3 may not be considered in the House receiv4 ing it except in the case of final passage as 

5 provided in clause (ii)(II). 

6 ‘‘(ii) With respect to a resolution de7 scribed in paragraph (1) of the House re8 ceiving the resolution— 

9 ‘‘(I) the procedure in that House 

10 shall be the same as if no resolution 

11 had been received from the other 

12 House; but 

13 ‘‘(II) the vote on final passage 

14 shall be on the resolution of the other 

15 House. 

16 ‘‘(B) DISPOSITION.—Upon disposition of 

17 the resolution received from the other House, it 

18 shall no longer be in order to consider the reso19 lution that originated in the receiving House. 

20 ‘‘(6) RULES OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE.— 

21 This section is enacted by Congress— 

22 ‘‘(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking 

23 power of the Senate and House of Representa24 tives, respectively, and as such it is deemed a 

25 part of the rules of each House, respectively, 


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1 but applicable only with respect to the proce2 dure to be followed in that House in the case 

3 of a resolution described in paragraph (1), and 

4 it supersedes other rules only to the extent that 

5 it is inconsistent with such rules; and 

6 ‘‘(B) with full recognition of the constitu7 tional right of either House to change the rules 

8 (so far as relating to the procedure of that 

9 House) at any time, in the same manner, and 

10 to the same extent as in the case of any other 

11 rule of that House. 

12 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

13 ‘‘(1) MAJOR BASE CLOSURE OR REALIGN14 MENT.—The term ‘major base closure and realign15 ment’ means any base closure or realignment that 

16 requires $150,000,000 or more in military construc17 tion costs and an overall, one-time implementation 

18 cost of $300,000,000 or more. 

19 ‘‘(2) BASELINE ESTIMATE OF ONE-TIME IMPLE20 MENTATION COSTS.—The term ‘baseline estimate of 

21 one-time implementation costs’ means the applicable 

22 cost set forth in the Cost of Base Realignment Ac23 tions (COBRA) report used and released by the Sec24 retary of Defense at the time the Secretary pub25 lished in the Federal Register and transmitted to the 


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1 congressional defense committees and the Commis2 sion the initial list of recommendations for closure or 

3 realignment of military installations under section 

4 2914(a).’’. 

Æ 


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