James M. Jeffords: “for the past few days, the Senate has been considering the conference report to accompany the Department of Defense…”

“for the past few days, the Senate has been considering the conference report to accompany the Department of Defense authorization bill for fiscal year 1998. While there are several areas of controversy, I would like to highlight one area that I believe has not been given sufficient consideration: funding for the National Guard. This bill contains a couple of disturbing provisions, not so much for their immediate impact, but for their long-term consequences. First, the proposal to add a representative for the Guard and Reserves on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which I strongly support, has been watered down to call for two two-star advisors to the Chairman of the JCS. Mr. President, this is essentially the same role that the head of the National Guard Bureau has today. I do not see this as an enhancement of the Guard's status in the highest circles of decisionmaking. And I'm told that in the Pentagon, two two-stars don't equal a four. I am afraid that the current pattern of decisionmaking is responsible for the shortfall in resources for the National Guard that we see in the legislation before us, and if it is not altered in a significant manner, the National Guard is likely to have greater problems in the future. The other provision that I would like to draw my colleagues attention to is the cut in Army National Guard personnel endstrength of 5,000.”