mr. chairman , i yield myself whatever time i have remaining . 
mr. chairman , let me just pick up on a couple of the people that have spoken . 
i want to pick up on a point that mr. delay xz4001040 made . 
he has an air guard unit returning to ellington air force base to a slap in the face , to essentially being told , you have done great work , thanks for what you did in iraq ; oh , by the way , we are closing your base . 
now , what kind of a message is that ? 
that was my point earlier on in my opening statement . 
we owe it to the people . 
i ask members to consider this : to the people who are doing the hard work in iraq , the people that did the hard work in afghanistan , this is not the way to say to them , job well done . 
it is not the way to say to them , you did a great job in standing up for democracy in afghanistan and doing the hard work in iraq . 
and , oh , by the way , there is no base to come back to , because your unit is being eliminated . 
is that the message we want to send to the people who do the hard work , to the 130 , 000 , 140 , 000 people now serving in iraq , the citizen soldiers that have left their jobs and their families and left their communities ? 
i do not think so . 
the point that mr. taylor xz4003991 made , why not give congress the responsibility , the armed services committee the responsibility ; why lay it off on somebody else ? 
we should not be doing that . 
this is our responsibility . 
that is why we are elected , to make these decisions . 
the report is flawed . 
you can say all you want about the great work that was done . 
i know people that serve on the base closing commission , and i know they spend a lot of time , but this work is flawed . 
this is a flawed report . 
this is our opportunity in the house to speak up and speak out . 
the defense department has had their say . 
the president had his say . 
the brac commission had their say . 
now it is the house 's turn to say to the hard-working citizen soldiers , we appreciate your work , we are going to stand with you , we are going to allow these bases to remain open , we are going to vote for the resolution that says that this brac should not stand , that these recommendations should not stand . 
that is what the house should be saying today . 
i hope the majority of members will do that . 
i mentioned earlier , there is a law on the books , passed by congress , that says that you can not close air and guard bases unless you get the authority from the governors . 
we even had a report from one of the people that was working for brac that this law has standing . 
the brac ignored this . 
the defense department has ignored us on this . 
we should not be doing this . 
this is the wrong message . 
this is the wrong idea to send to our country , to send to the people who are doing the work and continue to do the work . 
as i said earlier , i have supported the president and this administration and the secretary of defense , who is a friend of mine from illinois , in everything they have wanted to do in afghanistan and iraq . 
i know a lot of members have . 
the majority of the membership of this house has . 
now we ought to say to them , we do not agree with your recommendations . 
we do not agree that we should be realigning bases , turning people away , turning out bases and shutting down bases where the good work has been done . 
so based on that argument , based on the flawed brac report , based on a law that is on the books , a federal law that says you can not close these air and guard bases without the authority of the governor , i ask members to speak up today , to be a voice for the people , to be a voice for the military , to be a voice that says , this brac is not right , and i urge members to vote for the resolution . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
