Don't forget there is a Base Closure And Reduction (BRAC) committee working with a report due in May05. I suspect that a lot of the congresscritters attacking the SecDef are motivated by this BRAC and are 'sending a message' so to speak. Reports are this BRAC will cut a lot of un-needed bases and installations. This will be the first BRAC since Clinton used the last one as a re-election ploy back in '96.
There has been some grumbling that the reshuffling of European forces back to the U.S. that was announced earlier this year is aimed at putting more troops into U.S. bases, thus averting additional closures.