News From The U.S. Senate National Guard Caucus

FOR RELEASE:  Tuesday, June 20, 2006
CONTACT:  David Carle (w/Leahy), 202-224-3693
                      Rob Ostrander (w/Bond), 202-224-7627

Bond-Leahy Amendment To Boost National Guard Accepted
Measure Will Be Part of Managers’ Amendment

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), co-chairs of the Senate National Guard Caucus, today announced that their amendment to empower the Guard within the Pentagon has been accepted by the bill’s managers and will become part of the defense authorization bill currently being considered on the Senate floor.

 “The Senate has taken a bold step in ensuring that the National Guard will have substantive muscle commensurate with their contributions to our nation’s security,” said Bond. “Our job is not yet complete, however. Now the focus will be on the conference deliberations. The House version of the defense bill has no similar provision so it is critical that supporters of this provision work diligently to educate House and Senate conferees on the merits of the legislation which are many and long overdue.

 “The Guard is a 21st Century military organization, carrying its weight and more in Afghanistan and Iraq, and here at home whenever disaster strikes,” said Leahy.  “But today’s Guard is needlessly frozen in a 20th Century Pentagon organization chart.  The implications of that show up in everything from the Guard’s depleted equipment stockpiles, to training and staffing and mission decisions.  Our amendment clears away some institutional cobwebs to let the National Guard be the best it can be.  Grassroots support from the Guard community has helped us get this far, and grassroots support will be crucial in getting this legislation through conference and across the finish line, in the face of the Old Guard institutional resistance that will continue to work against these reforms.  Senator Bond and I will push hard to the goal.  We know that Congress can’t afford to let our Guard down.”

The Bond-Leahy amendment will ensure that the nation's citizen-soldiers and airmen have access to the highest levels of the Department of Defense and that key policy decisions impacting the Guard and the states are heard and taken into account.     

The amendment involves four central elements:

• Give the Guard more muscle within the Pentagon by elevating the Chief of the National Guard to a four-star position;
• Direct that the Deputy Commander of U.S. Northern Command be a member of the National Guard to ensure that planning at NORCOM better encompasses the interests of the National Guard;
• Give the National Guard Bureau the ability to identify and validate equipment needs essential to its mission;
• Allow the National Guard Bureau to establish more direct lines of communication with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, states and federal agencies.

The National Guard has a long history of assisting America's military abroad while providing support and security at home.  Since the attacks of 9/11, the National Guard has taken on even greater responsibilities in the realm of homeland security. 

Despite this, the National Guard currently has only 35 percent of its required equipment levels.  Last year, Leahy and Bond led successful efforts in the Senate to increase equipment funding for the National Guard by almost $1 billion.

Bond and Leahy pointed out that these citizen-soldiers are a tremendous value for the capabilities they provide.  The Guard makes up almost half of the Total Force in the War on Terror and is a critical component of civilian defense and emergency response here at home for as little as 4.5 percent of the defense budget. 

Bond and Leahy noted that despite the critical role the Guard plays in national defense at home and abroad, there are many obstacles that prevent the force from reaching its full potential.  Earlier this year the Army proposed significant cuts to Guard troop strength. Bond and Leahy led the Senate opposition and the Pentagon backtracked on their plans to scale back the Guard's force structure after the Senators organized broad opposition -- more than 75 senators -- to the plan.

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