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Bush restores governors’ power over Guard

WASHINGTON — President Bush signed legislation pushed by Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont this week repealing a controversial law that had made it easier for the White House to take over control of the National Guard from governors.

The administration employed the guard for domestic law-enforcement duties, such as patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border.

The nation’s 50 governors had complained that the Insurrection Act, passed as part of a 2006 defense bill, hurt the states’ ability to use the guard to respond to natural disasters.

Leahy, a Democrat who co-chairs the Senate’s 95-member National Guard Caucus, put the repeal into a big defense authorization bill that Bush signed Monday.

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, a Republican, applauded the repeal, a top legislative priority of the National Governors Association.

“The governor is very pleased,” said spokesman Jason Gibbs. “Governor Douglas believes very strongly that the National Guard needs to remain a state entity and resource controlled by the governors for domestic emergencies.”

The defense bill also included a provision by Leahy and Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., to increase the National Guard’s clout at the Pentagon when decisions are made about the guard’s missions, equipment and staffing.

The change elevates the chief of the National Guard from the rank of lieutenant general to the rank of general, makes the chief the prime military adviser to the defense secretary on Guard issues, and directs the Pentagon to work with the Guard on homeland defense planning.

“This gives the National Guard the voice it needs and deserves in policy decisions that affect the Guard from top to bottom,” Leahy said. “Right now, the Guard has to beg and scrape and rely on the tender mercies of others for every piece of equipment they need to do the jobs they are asked to do. These reforms will begin changing that.”

WEB: Sen. Patrick Leahy