Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC -- Our National Guardsmen and women play a vital role in both our national defense and domestic disaster response. For the past 14 years the Guard has deployed in their combat role alongside our active duty forces. At home they have been there for us and responded in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings the civil unrest in Maryland and Missouri and always answered the call when natural disasters such as hurricanes wildfires and winter storms ravaged communities throughout the country. The Texas National Guard is continuing to respond to the epic flooding in our state and is again proving how essential they are to our national security and the safety of our citizens.
That is why this week I included language in the Fiscal Year 2016 Defense Appropriations bill supporting the National Guard and protecting them from potentially harmful effects resulting from the Armys Aviation Restructuring Initiative. This Initiative was hastily put together by the Army and includes plans to transfer all Apache Helicopters from the National Guard to the active Army. The Army also plans to reduce the end strength of the National Guard. For over a year I have asked the Army to provide information studies and costs to justify their proposal. They have failed to provide all of this information.
The Army should not be allowed to make irreversible changes to the National Guard before Congress has a full and clear picture of what impact these changes will have. We must place a hold on the Armys proposal until the National Commission on the Future of the Army Report is released next February and all cost information is provided.
I am pleased that so many of my colleagues from both parties have joined me in standing with the National Guard. We have a responsibility to the National Guardsmen and women who have fought for this nation overseas and stand ready to respond to emergencies at home to ensure we have all of the facts and that we know the true impacts of the Aviation Restructure Initiative before it is allowed to be fully implemented.
This is not a Republican or Democrat issue; support of the National Guard is a bipartisan matter. I will continue to fight for the Guard against attempts by the Services to minimize them.
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC -- Our National Guardsmen and women play a vital role in both our national defense and domestic disaster response. For the past 14 years the Guard has deployed in their combat role alongside our active duty forces. At home they have been there for us and responded in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings the civil unrest in Maryland and Missouri and always answered the call when natural disasters such as hurricanes wildfires and winter storms ravaged communities throughout the country. The Texas National Guard is continuing to respond to the epic flooding in our state and is again proving how essential they are to our national security and the safety of our citizens.
That is why this week I included language in the Fiscal Year 2016 Defense Appropriations bill supporting the National Guard and protecting them from potentially harmful effects resulting from the Armys Aviation Restructuring Initiative. This Initiative was hastily put together by the Army and includes plans to transfer all Apache Helicopters from the National Guard to the active Army. The Army also plans to reduce the end strength of the National Guard. For over a year I have asked the Army to provide information studies and costs to justify their proposal. They have failed to provide all of this information.
The Army should not be allowed to make irreversible changes to the National Guard before Congress has a full and clear picture of what impact these changes will have. We must place a hold on the Armys proposal until the National Commission on the Future of the Army Report is released next February and all cost information is provided.
I am pleased that so many of my colleagues from both parties have joined me in standing with the National Guard. We have a responsibility to the National Guardsmen and women who have fought for this nation overseas and stand ready to respond to emergencies at home to ensure we have all of the facts and that we know the true impacts of the Aviation Restructure Initiative before it is allowed to be fully implemented.
This is not a Republican or Democrat issue; support of the National Guard is a bipartisan matter. I will continue to fight for the Guard against attempts by the Services to minimize them.
