WASHINGTON – Some senators objected Monday to Bush administration plans to close some bases, saying the military shouldn’t be mothballing facilities just as it is gearing up for a long battle against terrorism.

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a single round of base closings in 2003 by a vote of 17-8 on Sept. 7 – four days before the terrorist attacks – as part of the $343 billion authorization for the Defense and Energy departments.

The Bush administration’s February budget said the nation had a 23 percent surplus of bases, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld urged committee leaders in letters Friday to eliminate this surplus.

“In the wake of the terrible events of September 11, the imperative to convert excess capacity into war-fighting ability is enhanced, not diminished,” Rumsfeld wrote. “We simply must have the freedom to maximize the efficient use of our resources.”

His view was backed by committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and its top Republican, Sen. John Warner of Virginia, but opponents launched a debate on the bill Monday, led by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky.

“Now, more than ever, we should hold off further downsizing … until we have analyzed how to fight the first war of the 21st century,” said Bunning, who offered an amendment to cut the base-closings provision from the authorization bill.

Sen. Susan Collins argued, “In light of the recent terrorist attacks on our homeland … we should be preserving, not eroding, our nation’s infrastructure.”

In a prepared statement, Sen. Olympia Snowe echoed those sentiments. She said “we must not sacrifice our valuable defense infrastructure when we have just committed to a new war on terrorism.”

The Senate was to vote today on tabling the amendment.

The House Armed Services Committee tried to derail base closures by omitting them from its version of the defense authorization bill. The House was expected to debate that bill this week.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a longtime supporter of base closings, urged his fellow senators to be unified behind President Bush, Rumsfeld and the men and women in uniform.

Voting against the closings “will send a signal, my friends, and the signal is it’s business as usual in the United States Congress. We’re not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices … to fight this war on terrorism.”