480
Opinion of Souter, J.
no later, respectively, than April 15, 1991, March 15, 1993, and March 15, 1995. § 2903(c). The Comptroller General must submit a report to Congress and the Commission evaluating the Secretary's recommendations by April 15 of each base-closing year. § 2903(d)(5). The Commission must then transmit a report to the President setting out its own recommendations by July 1 of each of those years. § 2903(d)(2). And in each such year, the President must, no later than July 15, either approve or disapprove the Commission's recommendations. § 2903(e)(1). If the President disapproves the Commission's report, the Commission must send the President a revised list of recommended base closings, no later than August 15. § 2903(e)(3). In that event, the President will have until September 1 to approve the Commission's revised report; if the President fails to approve the report by that date, then no bases will be closed that year. § 2903(e)(5). If, however, the President approves a Commission report within either of the times allowed, the report becomes effective unless Congress disapproves the President's decision by joint resolution (passed according to provisions for expedited and circumscribed internal procedures) within 45 days. §§ 2904(b)(1)(A), 2908.2
The Act requires that a decision about a base-closing package, once made, be implemented promptly. Once Congress has declined to disapprove the President's base-closing decision, the Secretary of Defense "shall . . . close all military installations recommended for closure." § 2904(a). The Secretary is given just two years after the President's transmittal to Congress to begin the complicated process of closing the listed bases and must complete each base-closing round within six years of the President's transmittal. See §§ 2904, 2905.
2 To enable Congress to perform this prompt review, the Act requires the Secretary, the Comptroller General, and the Commission to provide Congress with information prior to the completion of Executive Branch review. See §§ 2903(a)(1), (b)(2), (c)(1), and (d)(3).
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