American Notes CONGRESS

Not for a dozen years has the Pentagon been able to close a major military base, even though some of the installations it operates -- at a cost of billions to the taxpayers -- were built to help fend off marauding Indians or troublemaking Redcoats. The reason? Not Pentagon profligacy, for once, but political pork.

Whenever the military moves to shutter a base, the member of Congress in whose district it is located rises in righteous indignation. Given the you- scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours philosophy that reigns on Capitol Hill, even such an anachronism as Virginia's moat-encircled Fort Monroe -- built for the War of 1812 -- has been spared, although it costs $186 million a year and serves no useful military purpose.

Last week the House of Representatives took up a bill providing for a six- member Pentagon-appointed commission to decide which bases to close. The commission was intended to shield the politicians from risking votes by wielding the ax themselves.

But after hours of debate, the House could not decide whether Congress + should reserve to itself the right to approve the commission's list of bases or just the right to reject it. Apparently paralyzed by this weighty question of national defense, the House recessed for the weekend without taking action.