Guard Officers Applaud House Action To Pause Air National Guard Cuts

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Guard Association of the United States today released the following statement by retired Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr., association president, on House Armed Services Committee passage of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill:  

"National Guard leaders across the country are encouraged by the House Armed Services Committee's action early this morning that would halt the Air Force's ill-advised and disproportionate cuts to the Air National Guard in the fiscal 2013 defense budget request.

"The HASC defense authorization bill includes an amendment sponsored by California Rep. Duncan Hunter and Iowa Rep. Dave Loebsack that would maintain all Air National Guard aircraft and personnel at fiscal 2012 levels for fiscal 2013.

"This pause would preserve Air Guard capabilities to accomplish its many missions while the Department of Defense and the nation's governors develop a process that better accounts for domestic missions in future defense budgets.

"While this is a big step toward a legislative remedy, the journey continues. We now ask the Senate to also pause these cuts long enough to fix a budget process that for too long has given scant attention to defense needs at home. We look forward to working with the members of the Senate in the days and weeks ahead."

Hunter-Loebsack Amendment To House Fiscal 2013 Defense Authorization Bill
(Halts transfers of all Air Force A-10, C-5, C-27, C-130, E-8, F-16, KC-135, MC-12 aircraft and all Army C-23s)

Introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R- Calif.

Co-sponsors:

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo.
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md.
Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo.
Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn.
Rep. John Fleming, R-La.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif.
Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark.
Rep. Kathleen Hochul, D-N.Y.
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga.
Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa
Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J.
Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss.
Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala.
Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J.
Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio

About NGAUS: The association includes nearly 45,000 current or former Guard officers. It was created in 1878 to provide unified representation in Washington. In their first productive meeting after Reconstruction, militia officers from the North and South formed the association with the goal of obtaining better equipment and training by educating Congress on militia needs. Today, 134 years later, the militia is known as the National Guard, but NGAUS has the same mission.

SOURCE National Guard Association of the U.S.