Senators prepare to put Pentagon on notice over Guard cuts

At least a dozen Republican and Democratic senators have signed on to a resolution that asks the Pentagon to keep state and federal lawmakers informed about emerging plans to cut National Guard troops, yet another signal that Congress is increasingly wary of efforts to downsize the state-run units.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Nebraska Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, respectively, were expected to introduce the nonbinding resolution in the Senate Thursday, more than a week before the Bush administration sends its fiscal 2007 budget request and an accompanying Quadrennial Defense Review to Capitol Hill.

"The idea is to get the Senate on the record before the QDR comes out and before the" budget, said a spokesman for Nelson. "The Guard [has] the unique role of serving the president and each state's governor and any changes should include input from states through governors' offices and through Congress."

In addition to addressing the proposed force-structure cuts, the resolution calls on the Pentagon to fully fund National Guard equipment and replace gear damaged or destroyed during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Nelson spokesman said.

In the last several weeks, lawmakers from across the country have deluged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with letters arguing that personnel cuts would severely limit the Guard's ability to respond to disasters in the United States and contingencies abroad.

"We believe such a reduction may hinder the ability of the Guard to perform its critical homeland security and state emergency roles, while also posing a risk to military preparedness and security for the entire nation," the North Dakota delegation wrote in a Monday letter to Rumsfeld.

Also Monday, Nelson wrote President Bush, foreshadowing the introduction of his resolution and imploring him to address the issue in his State of the Union speech next week.

"The National Guard's duty is to protect our citizens at home and our interests abroad, and it is critical for the Guard to have the requisite personnel and equipment to meet its operational needs," according to the letter, which also urges the administration to "engage in full consultation with Congress and our nation's governors."

In its budget request, the Army is expected to ask for enough money to pay for only 333,000 Guard troops, 17,000 below the end-strength level authorized by Congress. The Air Force also is expected to trim thousands from its Guard force as part of a wider effort to cut its payrolls.

The Army did not publicly acknowledge several media reports on the National Guard cuts until last week, when Army Secretary Francis Harvey fielded questions from reporters. He stressed that the Army Guard now has only 333,000 troops, and added that the Army would pay for as many Guard soldiers as the force could recruit.

His statements did not silence critics on Capitol Hill. Lt. Gen. James Lovelace, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations, began to explain the cuts during closed-door meetings with House and Senate staffers Wednesday afternoon. Congressional aides at the meeting said it was the "first overture" and a "once-over-the-world" discussion to be followed by more detailed meetings over the next several months.

Lovelace "answered or addressed the 'what' question -- what is going to happen," said a House aide after the meeting. But there still needs to be more discussion on why the Army plans to do this, and how it will implement it, the aide added.