Senators, governors rally against National Guard cuts

The Pentagon's emerging plan to cut National Guard troops is drawing heated opposition on Capitol Hill, with the Republican and Democratic chairmen of the Senate's National Guard Caucus marshalling lawmakers to thwart the effort weeks before the Bush administration delivers its fiscal 2007 budget to Congress.

Sens. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., have asked their colleagues to sign a letter to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld arguing that personnel cuts would hinder the Guard's ability to respond to disasters in the United States and contingencies abroad. Their Wednesday "Dear Colleague" also says the planned cuts would not be cost-effective because part-time Guard troops provide an "unrivaled level of capability when compared to the cost of maintaining a similarly equipped active duty force."

Opposition also has come from the highest levels of Congress, making it clear that any cuts in the Guard force will be a tough sell. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and fellow Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander wrote Rumsfeld to oppose Army plans to request funds for 333,000 National Guard soldiers -- 17,000 below the 350,000 end-strength authorized by Congress -- and cut the number of planned Guard brigade combat teams from 34 to 28.

"While we understand the difficulty you face in this important process, we are concerned about further reductions in the United States ground forces -- especially during time of war," they said in the letter Alexander delivered at a meeting Thursday with Rumsfeld, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace and several other senators.

"Given current world events, potential emerging threats, and the ongoing need for experienced and capable combat forces, reductions in ground combat forces seems inadvisable," the Tennessee senators added.

Their letter coincided with one sent by the National Governors Association, which strongly challenged the wisdom of cutting the state-run units. Leaders of the group wrote Rumsfeld Thursday arguing that the National Guard has provided nearly half of combat forces in Iraq, and 90 percent of troops deployed to Louisiana and Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"Given their performance, at this time in history, it is inconceivable anybody would seriously consider a reduction in the National Guard force structure," said the NGA letter, signed by Republican Govs. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho as well as Democratic Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Mike Easley of North Carolina.

The combined letter-writing campaign suggests that the concerns of state and federal lawmakers were not assuaged after Army Secretary Francis Harvey addressed the issue of troop cuts at a news conference Wednesday. Harvey emphasized that keeping the Army Guard's payrolls at 333,000 soldiers would not result in any cuts in the force, which already is 17,000 troops below its authorized end-strength.

Furthermore, Harvey said, the Army would pay for as many Guard troops as the force could recruit, even if the numbers surge to 350,000. Harvey added that he plans to boost the Army Guard's number of combat support brigades.