[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 146 (Friday, October 17, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H9620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               NATIONAL GUARD GETS HAND-ME-DOWN EQUIPMENT

  (Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, under current practices 
today, the National Guard gets hand-me-down equipment from the regular 
Army. In many instances, it is never really anticipated those Guard 
units will go into combat. Now, because of manpower shortages, we are 
reaching so deeply into the Guard that we are having the Guard show up 
in Baghdad with old-generation Humvees without the proper equipment.
  We will have an amendment later today to transfer $300 million out of 
the weapons of mass destruction search by David Kay that has turned up 
a vial of botulism that we are now told by the experts has never been 
turned into a weapon, and it was sold by an American company back in 
the 1980s and given to the National Guard so that when they rotate into 
Baghdad and into other parts of Iraq, they will have modern equipment.
  We cannot sacrifice the lives of these young people because we failed 
to provide them the equipment or we gave them old equipment 7, 8, 10 
years ago and they have to take that equipment into battle. This is 
absolutely crucial in terms of the safety and protection of our 
fighting men and women who are in the Guard who now find themselves 
stationed in combat zones in excess of a year.

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