By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun

     WASH. D.C. — The House of Representatives version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2007 (HR 5122) offers military aid on the border, and prohibits civilian sharing of airport facilities on three local bases — the latter a strong favorite by San Diego Regional Airport Authority.
     Military aid on the border is something long sought by some Back Country residents and citizen border patrol groups. The bills ban airport on joint use San Diego military bases for a future airport site, could leave a Boulevard site as one of the only remaining options.
     Voting 396-31, the House, on Thursday, May 11, approved a $512 billion military budget for fiscal 2007, up 4.5 percent from 2006. Presented by District 52 Congressman Duncan Hunter, the bill provides $50 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan, raising total outlays there to more than $377 billion since Sept. 11, 2001. The bill would fund a 2.7 percent military pay raise; adds 30,000 active duty troops to the Army and 5,000 to the Marines; authorizes a full-strength Army National Guard at 350,000 soldiers; and authorizes $9.3 billion for the National Missile Defense. The bill also funds technology for jamming the radio signals used to detonate roadside bombs, and funds more protective armor for U.S. personnel and Humvees.

Military on the border
     An amendment to the bill, which passed in the House by a vote of 252-171 authorized the U.S. military to help the Department of Homeland Security control U.S. borders, if asked to do so.
     The amendment; “authorizes the Secretary of Defense to assign members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, under certain circumstances and subject to certain conditions, to assist the Department of Homeland Security in the performance of border protection functions.”
     Local Minutemen and other citizen border watch groups have asked repeatedly for more help from the government in dealing with immigrant traffic from Mexico.
     “My name is Greg and I’m here to put up the fence my government won’t build.”
     This response, and others like it, were recently echoed all the way down the line of a barbed wire fence under construction along a stretch of Boulevard border land. The builders were an estimated 200 civilian volunteers with the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, which has also asked the president to put troops on the border.
     “If the guard can go to work on the fence between Douglas, Ariz. and Calexico, Calif., immediately, they've got a chance of saving lots of lives during the hot season, which is going to commence in about 20 days,” Hunter said during a press conference on Monday.
     California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, has said that he is receptive to seeing the National Guard on the border, but only until more Border Patrol agents can be hired and trained. He said it was inappropriate for the Guard to be deployed at the border permanently.
     As of Wednesday, the Senate had passed a bill to build 370 miles of triple fencing along the Mexican border.

No joint use
     The House bill was passed just a few days before the San Diego Regional Airport Authority was scheduled to look at the costs of building a commercial airport at one of the remaining military facilities on the list: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Naval Air Station North Island and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
     Despite the provision about the military options, a report released Monday by the authority’s consultants Ricondo & Associates, states that airports at either Miramar or Pendleton, “do appear to be financially viable.” Both of these sites would also be more nearly $10 billion cheaper than one of the distant options.
     The controversy over joint use on one of the military bases has been growing over the past year, as the deadline for a site decision by the authority looms. Authority board members have argued among themselves about the reality of joint use on one of the bases, an idea which has been repeatedly denounced by local military officials.
     “The military has cooperated to the point that they looked at it and said they won’t cooperate — it’s just not going to happen in the U.S.,” said board member and Lemon Grove mayor Mary Sessom. “I don’t understand what part of ‘no’ we don’t get. The military is not going to give us this land.”
     Member Tony Young disagreed, however, saying, “The words between the authority and the military need to be ‘let’s make a deal.’ We need to work something out.”
    Member William Lynch called the provision little more than pork, and hoped that it would not be in the final bill signed by the president.
     “This is just another attempt to bury this issue, not get it before the people, and to keep us from even studying this,” Lynch said. “Congressman Hunter is telling the citizens of this county, 'Live with Lindbergh. It'll do you just fine,' and he's wrong.”
     “This provision rightfully protects San Diego's military assets, which are not for the airport authority to restructure or replace,” said Joe Kasper, Hunter’s press secretary. “There are certainly viable options for sustaining Lindbergh Field's future needs, but joint use or replacement of San Diego's national security assets is not one of them.”
     According to Kasper, the U.S. Senate is expected to pass its own version of the bill in the near future.
     “The House and Senate will then meet in conference to reconcile the differences between the two bills,” Kasper said.
     The House and Senate must ultimately reconcile any differences between their two defense spending bills before the final version heads to President George Bush for final approval. If approved, Hunter's language would broaden a similar provision that Congress approved in 1996, which prohibited civilian use of Miramar.
     If a military site is ultimately chosen for San Diego’s airport, Congress would have to intervene to get the base property.
     Airport authority officials plan to make a final decision for a new airport site at a board meeting to be held June 5. Voters will weigh in on the issue during the November election.
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