Case Releases Agenda for Strengthening Hawaii’s Defense Community

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Ed Case
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January 26, 2012
For Immediate Release

(Honolulu) Former U.S. Congressman and current U.S. Senate candidate Ed Case today released his Senate agenda for strengthening Hawai’i’s defense community. His third in a series of agenda releases, following growing our economy and strengthening tourism, addressed the critical importance of Hawai’i’s defense community to our nation’s Asia-Pacific presence and to Hawai’i’s economy.

Case also released the following statement on the Pentagon’s proposal to initiate another Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC), which in 2005 almost resulted in the closure of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawai’i’s largest industrial employer at some 4,500 jobs:

“I oppose a renewed BRAC process as premature and unnecessary. We are now conducting a big-picture review of our nation’s military, including President Obama’s announced focus on the Asia Pacific. Additionally, we have only just completed the 2005 BRAC process. It makes no sense to proceed with another BRAC until we’ve settled our national plan for the next decades and begun to realize any cost savings and efficiencies from the last disruptive effort.

“The BRAC process proposal is a ‘double wakeup call’. First, it shows all over again that we in Hawai’i cannot take our military here for granted. Second, it shows what happens when DC utterly fails to solve our budget crisis decisively and deliberately, resulting in needed budget cuts by ax rather than scalpel.”

Case fought with his Hawaii delegation colleagues and Hawai’i’s business and labor communities to save Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard from closure after the ‘05 BRAC process recommended its closure. His agenda to enhance Hawai’i’s defense community addresses many of the lessons of that effort.

Download the Agenda in pdf form.

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