05.08.24

Hoeven, Bicameral Colleagues Press Senate & House Armed Service Committees to Reject Flawed Air Force Proposal

Proposal Would Transfer National Guard Units, Overriding Governors’ Authority

WASHINGTON — Senator John Hoeven, alongside 81 bipartisan, bicameral colleagues, sent a letter led by Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Representative Jason Crow calling on the U.S. Senate and House Armed Service Committees to reject a flawed proposal from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) intended for the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The proposal would ignore precedent by transferring U.S. National Guard units executing space missions to the U.S. Space Force, renouncing governor approval. 

“We write regarding a deeply flawed legislative proposal put forward by the US Air Force that would undermine our National Guard system,” wrote the lawmakers. “The original intent of the National Guard was to have a force ready to respond to the needs of their state and country. Because of this, authority was placed in the hands of each state's individual governor. This is more than a matter of governance; governors bear the responsibility to protect the safety of their citizens by maintaining the readiness and deployability of their National Guard units.”

“Congress has a duty to maintain the integrity and longstanding tradition of the National Guard, and a proposal of this magnitude threatens to undo over 120 years of precedent,” concluded the lawmakers. “We recognize the Air Force is evolving to address future threats, but there are other options available to the Air Force to accomplish this evolution that don't undo an important foundation of our state National Guard system established by Congress.”

In addition to Hoeven, Bennet, Hickenlooper and Crow, U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), J. D. Vance (R-Ohio), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and 57 members of the U.S. House of Representatives also signed the letter.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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