U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton) issued the following statement in response to the failure of the House of Representatives to pass a resolution disapproving the final Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission report:   

    “I am extremely disappointed that the House today rejected legislation that would have blocked the implementation of the BRAC recommendation to close Ft. Monmouth,” said Smith who cosponsored the legislation (HJ Res 65) and has worked hard to reverse the Ft. Monmouth closure plan. 

    “While the BRAC report includes the forward-thinking provision to create the joint Mega-base: Fort Dix—McGuire—Lakehurst, the decision to close Fort Monmouth is wrong and could hurt current operations in the field,” said Smith, who had successfully led the fight to reverse the decision to close Navy Lakehurst during BRAC 1995. 

    Smith said that the 2005 Commission itself acknowledged defects in the Pentagon’s decision to close the base.  He said that fearful that the Fort Monmouth closure could disrupt the War on Terror, BRAC voted to amend their recommendation and require the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress showing that movement of Ft. Monmouth activities will be accomplished ‘without disruption to the Global War on Terrorism or other critical contingency operations and safeguards…’  

    “In essence, the Commission conceded that the proposal to close Ft. Monmouth was ill-conceived, yet they fell short of fixing or reversing it,” he said.

    “At such a crucial time in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress needs to ensure that our troops are provided with the best equipment and technology to successfully carry out daily missions.  Any inclination that current capabilities and critical operations could be disrupted – as stated by the Commission – should have been enough to reverse the Ft. Monmouth decision.  

    “My heart goes out to the families in the Ft. Monmouth community.   I will continue to work with them to mitigate the impact of this decision on their lives.”