Pete Sessions: “Our Governor has called up 300 National Guardsmen, and I think it needs to be done under title 32, which is Federal…”

“Our Governor has called up 300 National Guardsmen, and I think it needs to be done under title 32, which is Federal status under State control. The President on Tuesday evening said: I have authorized the deployment of over 17,000 National Guard members along the coast. These service men and women are ready to help stop the oil from coming ashore, clean beaches, train response workers, or even help with processing claims, and I urge the governors in the affected states to activate these troops as soon as possible. Well, the Federal status under State control is the procedure by which the Guard people operate under State control, which eliminates some of the prohibitions on military people being used, Federal military people being used for nonmilitary matters, and it allows payment by the Federal Government. I guess I would just say that this is not worked out yet. As a matter of fact, Governor Riley has personally been engaged in this, and I have been so proud of his leadership. He has called these guardsmen for some time and has been requesting that they be approved under title 32. The Admiral told me today that there are still bureaucratic problems--the Department of Defense says this and some law says this. I would just say that the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States, said: Call them up and let's get busy about it. And I hope somehow this can be taken care of promptly, as it is impacting the budget of the State of Alabama in a significant way.”