National Guard supporters to renew bid to elevate chief

National Guard advocates on Capitol Hill plan to reintroduce legislation early next year that would promote the National Guard Bureau chief to four-star rank and make him a member of the elite Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The goal of the legislation, which had bipartisan support in the 109th Congress, is to elevate the stature of the Air and Army National Guard, which has been heavily deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and give the chief a greater voice in Pentagon budget and strategy decisions.

Staff discussions are under way on whether to expand or make other changes to the legislation, dubbed the "National Guard Empowerment Act," but no firm decisions have been made, several congressional aides said.

Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke, Nebraska's top Guard official and president of the Adjutant Generals Association of the United States, says he is optimistic about the legislation's chances in the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress.

"I think you'll at least initially find a little more independence between members of [the Armed Services committees] and the Pentagon," Lempke said. "Now's a good time to address it again."

But supporters still must convince incoming House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and incoming Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., and members of their panels generally to back the language. Levin is lukewarm on the bill, while Skelton has been cautious about enacting major new Guard policy until the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves completes its independent assessment of the reserve components' needs and capabilities.

The commission's legislative recommendations are due to Congress on March 1, 2007, although its final report has a January 2008 deadline. The Senate sponsors of the bill are National Guard Caucus co-chairmen Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., both members of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which will have little say over the policy matter.

In the House, the Guard Caucus is headed by outgoing House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., and Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., both influential figures who are expected to rally significant support for the changes. Taylor is expected to chair the House Armed Services' new seapower subcommittee, which will replace the Projection Forces panel.

This year, Congress punted decisions on the National Guard legislation to the commission, which plans hearings Wednesday and Thursday on Capitol Hill.

The Senate's version of the fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill included watered-down Guard language, but lawmakers ultimately scrubbed that provision from the final conference report. Instead, the committees charged the commission with reviewing the legislation.

In 2007, however, the Armed Services committees "don't have another commission to throw in front of us," said a congressional aide, alluding to the fact that once the commission makes a recommendation in March, Armed Services panel members will have to take a stand on legislation.

Supporters also asserted that the Guard commission will not have the last word on the matter. "If the Iraq Study Group isn't final [in determining U.S. policy in Iraq], this one isn't going to be final either," a House aide said.