Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy,
Co-Chair, Senate National Guard Caucus,
On National Guard Equipment Stocks
May 9, 2007

Mr. President, yesterday the President of the United States, through his spokesperson, blatantly dismissed the all-too-real concerns of Governor Sebelius of Kansas about the equipment levels available to our National Guard for dealing with such emergencies at home as the horrible disaster that befell Greensburg, Kansas several days ago.  The White House spokesperson essentially said there was no problem, and that the Guard has considerable equipment stocks still available.  That assertion is just absurd on a number of levels, and the reality is that Guard faces real, incontrovertible shortfalls in vital equipment.

First, the Governors and their Adjutant Generals – the heads of the National Guard in their respective states – are reporting something quite different.  State after state after state reports missing HUMVEES, medium-sized trucks, generators, dump trucks, and communications systems.  These are not just claims from any old observer on Guard issues.  These are the leaders who have been elected by the people to provide for their security and deal with these sometimes terrifying state emergencies.  The governors command the Guard when operating in a State, and we have to give special credence to what they say.

The idea that there is no problem is equally ridiculous because it has been clearly documented that there is a very real $24 billion equipment shortfall in Army National Guard equipment alone – reports that don’t take into consideration the shortfalls within the Air National Guard.  The active Army and the National Guard agree on this figure.  It was developed together with the National Guard Bureau working closely with the Army staff.

Well, the number is clear, but guess what:  There no plans to address this shortfall in the long-range budget.  No plans to buy the 18,000 needed HUMVEES, no plans to obtain the 30,000 medium-sized trucks, no plans to purchase the 12,000 required generators, no plans to purchase the 62,000 communications sets – the list goes on.

Another reason that the White House’s assessment of Guard Equipment issues is so flawed is that everyone – from the Guard leadership to the Army leadership to members here on the Hill – knows that, very frequently, equipment slated for the Guard never actually makes it to the Guard because it is diverted, transferred to the active force before it gets into Guard stocks.

And even when the Guard equipment makes into the Guard stocks, it is often quickly turned around and sent right back off to Iraq, along with deploying Guard units, many of which now face their second Iraq deployment.

I wish the President and the White House would come to fully recognize this reality.  Here’s the real situation when it comes to National Guard Equipment.   The Guard does not have adequate stocks to deal with emergencies to the force’s full potential.  In a smaller scale disaster, the National Guard cannot respond as quickly to support first responders and local law enforcement.  This is what we saw recently in Kansas.  In a larger scale emergency – something like another Hurricane Katrina or, God forbid, two large simultaneous disasters, the Guard will be hard-pressed to respond as well at did along the Gulf Coast almost two years ago.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates maintained this morning in his appearance before the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that the Guard has 56 percent of it equipment stocks available.  That figure contradicts everything I have heard from other responsible officials, which puts the figure at closer to 35 percent.

In the latest supplemental spending bill, which the President seemed happy to veto, I worked with my colleague on the National Guard Caucus Senator Bond and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to add $1 billion for Army Guard Equipment purchases.  That funding would go directly for dealing with that $24 billion shortfall.  Because this is by no means a partisan issue, we are going to work very hard to make sure that funding remains in whatever spending bill we eventually complete.

However, I will tell you this.  It is going to be darn hard – darn hard – to be able to deal with this issue if the White House does not recognize its responsibilities and start working with Congress more cooperatively.  More importantly, it would be really helpful for the White House to stop showing contempt for the views of our nation’s elected governors, take their good input, and respect their thoughts on the Guard, given place as the commanders of the National Guard in their state.

Let’s turn this situation around and come up with a new place to replenish depleted Guard equipment stocks.  We cannot continue to let our Guard down.

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