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On June 6, the House Armed Services Committee approved its version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2014 (NDAA) by a 59-2 vote. Despite the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Obama Administration’s call for a new Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) to save costs, the Committee-approved bill would prevent DOD from spending any fiscal year 2014 funds to modify basing strategy. ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ remains committed to advocating that as the needs of DOD shift after a decade of overseas wars come to a close. DOD facilities should reflect these changing needs to better support America’s troops. During the committee debate and NDAA mark-up, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) argued that anti-BRAC language in the NDAA was too restrictive because it would stop the executive branch from planning for or proposing new BRAC rounds. Rep. Smith’s amendment to provide for some degree of BRAC-related planning failed by an 18-44 vote. Because the mark-up went late into the morning, a final version of the approved NDAA bill is not available. However, please find a copy of the . Also, it should be noted that although President Obama did call for another BRAC round in 2015 in his FY 2014 budget, his BRAC budget proposal would not begin a new BRAC until 2016. The president’s budget proposal would also reduce existing BRAC accounts by nearly 16 percent or about $85 million in 2014. For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.