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NGAUS Legislative Summary of the FY 2007 National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and Defense
Appropriations Bills
The FY2007 defense budget cycle recently culminated
in Congress when both Chambers voted to approve the
authorization and appropriations conference reports, and
were then signed by the President.
The process begins in early February when the
Presidents Budget (PB) is delivered to Congress,
establishing the baseline from which NGAUS determines
the resources and policies not included in the budget
that our staff will lobby for on behalf of our members.
This year was unique because the PB implemented the
strategy outlined in the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review
(QDR), which was released during the same time period.
However, the contents of the QDR, some of which had been
leaked to the press, soon became the top priority for
NGAUS because the Army was proposing to cut Army
National Guard (ARNG) end strength by 17,000 positions
and assign support missions to six of our brigade combat
teams (BCT) - without the benefit of input or debate by
National Guard leaders!
The battle was on when Brig. Gen. Steve Koper (Ret.),
president of NGAUS, fired off letters to key members of
Congress, adjutant’s generals, and others alerting them
to this unwarranted attack on our force structure.
During the months to follow, the Pentagon would do some
serious back-peddling and eventually promise to fund
350,000 soldiers as long as the ARNG could recruit to
that level.
As an adjunct to that uncoordinated maneuver by the
Department and similar experiences such as the 2005 Base
Realignment and Closure (BRAC), the Senate National
Guard Caucus, led by Senator’s Bond and Leahy,
introduced the National Defense Enhancement and National
Guard Empowerment Act of 2006 to help bolster the
influence of the National Guard in the Pentagon by
obtaining a permanent “seat at the table” for Guard
leadership.
NGAUS, along with the Adjutants General Association
of the United States (AGAUS), National Governors
Association (NGA), and allies from both the House and
Senate worked diligently to pass this important
legislation, while the Pentagon worked just as hard
behind the scenes to ensure its defeat. Ultimately, the
issue would be referred to the Commission of the
National Guard and Reserves (CNGR) for further study and
a report back date to Congress of March 2007.
Although ARNG force structure, Empowerment and
TRICARE were in the spotlight this year, I can assure
you that our staff vigorously pursued all of our
legislative priorities.
Some of those priorities include Joint Cargo Aircraft
(JCA), reset funding for equipment, full time manning,
tax breaks for employers, reduced age for retirement
pay, bonuses, Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters, Bradley
upgrades, Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures
(LAIRCM) for C-130’s, Active Electronically Scanned
Array (AESA) radar for F-15’s, Satellite Communications
(SATCOM) for A-10’s, and much more.
We also coordinated our efforts with the NGA to
oppose the proposed legislation that would allow the
President to activate the National Guard during natural
disasters “without” the consent of the governor. And,
although the final legislation did include changes to
the Insurrection Act that would allow the President to
activate the National Guard during a natural disaster,
terrorist attack, epidemic or other public health
emergency (without the consent of the governor), it is
under the condition that the state is unable to maintain
public order, and the violence obstructed the execution
of the laws of the United States.
Additionally, the NGAUS staff attended almost half of
the state association conferences, helped facilitate
state delegation visits to the Hill, worked closely with
the NGAUS task forces and resolutions committees, linked
industry with state associations to formulate new
resolutions, and improved our working relationship with
the National Guard Bureau Legislative Liaison (NGB/LL)
team, and our sister veterans associations. It was
certainly a very busy year!
If you were in the audience for one of our
legislative update briefings this year, you may be
familiar with the following statement on the final
slide…Our “future” is in the hands of all of us…working
together to ensure a strong and viable National Guard.
This statement is important, because the results of this
legislative season were achieved by “all of us”, NGAUS,
EANGUS, AGAUS, NGA, state delegations, industry,
individual members and so many more, working together to
obtain the resources necessary for readiness and quality
of life for our soldiers, airmen and their families.
Defense Appropriations:
The appropriations bill was signed into law by the
President on 29 September 2006.
The House and Senate conferees agreed that National
Guard forces are integral to our efforts in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and play a critical role in our nation’s
response to natural disasters. To that end, Congress
provided $75M for the ARNG and $75M for the ANG to fund
some of our top priorities such as: $8.25M for UH-60 A
to UH-60 L Conversions, $2.6M for M915 Tractor Trucks,
$6M for Mobile Approach Control Systems, $12M for Block
42 Engine Upgrades, $6M for C130 LAIRCM and a long list
of other important equipment. In addition, $72M was
provided for F-15C AESA radars.
The conferees also appropriated $72M in procurement
funds for the Army’s Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) (Title
III), and $15.8M in RDT&E funds for the Air Force’s
Light Cargo Aircraft (LCA) program (Title IV). And,
$82.8M was appropriated for the ANG portion of Predator
UAV funding (Title IX), and $95M for five ARNG UH-60
Blackhawk helicopters.
The conferees were very concerned about the
Department’s proposal to reduce the number of ARNG
brigade combat teams from 34 to 28 and strongly urge the
Department of the Army to continue its examination of
combat brigade requirements with the full participation
and cooperation of both active and Guard officials at
all levels. The conferee’s will closely monitor this
issue over the coming months to ensure that sufficient
funding is provided to field the number of Guard combat
brigades necessary to meet its force generation and
state security requirements.
The conferees fully funded the Army National Guard
authorized end strength level of 350,000, and restored
the bulk of funding cuts to the ARNG from PDM III. Title
IX added Guard Manpower Buy Back funding in the amount
of $251M in ARNG personnel and $220M in ARNG O&M.
A 2.2 percent across-the-board pay raise was approved
for all military personnel, which matched the Presidents
budget request.
Finally, to accomplish reset as quickly as possible
and ensure military readiness, the conferees directed
$2,940,000,000 for Title IX procurement funds to be
available for the Army National Guard and Army Reserve,
and that $500,000,000 of those funds shall be available
for the purposes identified in the House Report 109-504
under the heading “National Guard and Reserve Equipment”
to fund the National Guard’s “Essential 10 Equipment
Requirements.” The Chief of the National Guard Bureau is
also directed to submit a report specifying the items to
be procured with this funding, and a fielding plan not
later than 60 days after enactment of the Act. The
Department of Defense is directed to submit to the
Congressional defense committees not later than nine
months after enactment of the Act (i.e., 29 June 2007) a
report on how the Department has obligated funds and
provided the equipment designated for the National Guard
in the budget submission and accompanying justification
materials.
A more detailed analysis of the appropriations act
will be posted on the NGAUS web site for your review.
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):
The 2007 NDAA contained some good news for the National
Guard and put off some important legislative action for
a later date.
The good news is a final victory with the
authorization of expanded eligibility of selected
reserve members under the TRICARE Standard program.
The bill provides coverage under the TRICARE Standard
program to all members of the Selected Reserves and
their families while in a non-active duty status.
Participants would be required to pay a premium that
would be 28 percent of the total amount determined by
the Secretary of Defense as being reasonable for the
TRICARE coverage. This section does not extend TRICARE
eligibility to reservists who were also federal
employees entitled to Federal Employee Health Benefits
Plan coverage under title 5, United States Code.
Further, this section repeals the three tiered cost
share TRICARE program for reserves established by the
fiscal year 2006 National Defense Authorization Act and
will be effective 1 October 2007.
NGAUS owes a great deal to the Senate and House
champions who did so much to bring about this stunning
accomplishment on behalf of the members of the Guard and
Reserve. We would like to salute, from the House, Mr.
Taylor, Mr. Tom Davis, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Turner, Mr.
Latham and Mr. Tim Ryan along with all of their
colleagues. In the Senate we acknowledge the leadership
of Mr. Graham, Mr. Leahy, Mr. DeWine, Mrs. Clinton and
the whole host of senators past and present who worked
to bring about this legislation. NGAUS and the Adjutants
General Association thank you for seven years of
unrelenting effort.
On the other hand, it was very disappointing to learn
that the conferees deferred the National Guard
Empowerment Act to the Commission of National Guard and
Reserves for their recommendation and report back NLT 1
March 2007. NGAUS, AGAUS and our friends in Congress
worked tirelessly to promote this legislation that would
have elevated the Chief of NGB to four stars, designated
the three-star Deputy of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM)
as a National Guard officer, and several other actions
that would help ensure the Guard is “at the table.”
NGAUS will continue to lead the way on this issue
because it is vitally important to our future as an
institution.
The Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program combines the
initiative to procure Future Cargo Aircraft (FCA) for
the Army National Guard to replace aging C-23’s, C-26,
and a portion of the C-12 fleet to relieve excessive
demands on the CH-47 for intra-theater lift, and the
interest by the Air Force to use the Light Cargo
Aircraft (LCA) for its intra-theater airlift and provide
new missions for ANG units that lost aircraft due to
BRAC. Although the initial budget request earmarked
$109.2M for the Army to procure three FCA, and $15.8M
for the Air Force to establish a program, the conferees
agreed that, although the Army initiated the program,
the $109.2M would be authorized for the Air Force since
the Army and Air Force signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) to merge the two programs and that
the Air Force is conducting an F-series (functional
analysis) study to define the broader requirement for
the aircraft which would provide intra-theater airlift
mission support for U. S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).
The conferees also indicated that it would be premature
to procure aircraft until appropriate intra-theater lift
studies are complete.
Another initiative of great interest to our members
is the reduction of age to receive retirement pay. Last
year, Senator Chambliss introduced legislation that
would have reduced the age to receive retirement pay by
three months for every 90 days a member of the National
Guard or Reserves served in combat. NGAUS supported that
initiative with a clear caveat that we did not think it
appropriate to create different “classes” of Guard
members (those who are called to federal service vs.
those who have not yet been called), and that every
member of the National Guard was doing their part to
support the war effort and homeland defense. That
legislation was eliminated during conference
negotiations.
The conferees expanded the Presidential Reserve
Call-Up Authority from 270 to 365 days. And with respect
to the balance of equipment, the bill requires the
SECDEF to submit a report NLT 1 April 2007 regarding the
priority distribution strategy for replacing National
Guard equipment, and requires the Chief of NGB to
comment on the Secretary of the Army report to congress
on Army progress in budgeting for repair and replacement
of equipment used in the GWOT as well as equipment for
transformation/modularity and to replenish preposition
stocks.
With respect to compensation and personnel benefits,
the bill authorizes Service Secretaries to pay a second
monthly BAH in lieu of per diem to reserve component
members without dependents mobilized in support of
contingency operations, and extends a wide variety of RC
bonuses and special pay.
This year, our staff negotiated with several members
of Congress for their support to introduce legislation
that would reduce the age to receive retirement pay,
with the preferred method being a one year reduction for
every two years served beyond twenty. However, despite
our input, Senator Chambliss’ language, as described
earlier, prevailed. Unfortunately, that legislation was
eliminated during conference as well. Our staff will
continue to vigorously pursue this issue.
More detailed information regarding these pieces of
legislation can be found on our web site at
www.ngaus.org.
“We Serve”
Providing NGAUS members with effective and
knowledgeable representation on Capitol Hill.
Published by the NGAUS Legislative Staff:
Brig Gen (Ret.) Richard M. Green, Director
Chris DeBatt, Army Programs
Andy Vanlandingham, Air Programs
Bernie Phelps, Senior Legislative Analyst
Emily Breitbach, Legislative Analyst
For more information on NGAUS, check out our website:
www.NGAUS.org
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