WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The U.S. Congress agreed Wednesday to endorse the current Japanese-U.S. plan to relocate the Futenma air station within Okinawa, congressional sources said.
The Senate and the House of Representatives will vote Thursday on an amendment to the defense authorization bill for fiscal 2010 effectively endorsing the relocation of the base, now in densely populated Ginowan, to Nago, farther north on Okinawa Island.
The two houses agreed to amend the bill to endorse the relocation, the sources said.
The House passed the defense bill in June, but it contained a clause effectively opposed to the relocation plan. The House bill requires the secretary of defense not to approve the relocation unless the armed services committees of both chambers are guaranteed that the minimum level of flight safety is ensured at the alternative site.
At that time, the White House issued a statement warning the bill could undermine the 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement to reorganize the U.S. forces in Japan, and the Defense Department lobbied lawmakers to endorse the bilateral accord.
Wednesday's agreement in both houses of Congress could pave the way for the administration of President Barack Obama to go ahead with the Futenma relocation as agreed.
Under the 2006 agreement, the Futenma base's aircraft operations would be moved to Camp Schwab in a less populated area of Nago by 2014. The amendment to the defense bill tones down the original and requires the defense secretary to report that the alternative facilities are consistent with U.S. military requirements on flight safety.
