[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 11144-11145]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             NATIONAL GUARD

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, as we are waiting for some of 
the deliberations on the Department of Defense authorization bill, I 
thought it might be worthwhile to call to the attention of the Senate 
an amendment I will be offering at a later time having to do with our 
National Guard.
  The National Guard has performed magnificently, heroically, and with 
great professional skill, as well as patriotism. When I wore the 
uniform of this country as a member of the U.S. Army Active-Duty back 
in the late 1960s, the National Guard was a much different creature. 
Today, as the Presiding Officer so well knows, the National Guard is, 
in many cases, as skilled as, if not even more skilled in particular 
skills, the regular Army. Thus, when we encounter a threat to the 
interests of the United States and have to respond abroad, as we have 
both in Afghanistan and Iraq--especially in Iraq but before that in the 
Balkans--the National Guard is called on to supply so many of those 
troops.
  My wife and I make it a point on holidays such as Thanksgiving to 
have Thanksgiving dinner with troops in different parts of the world. 
One time we found ourselves with our troops in Bosnia. At that 
particular point in one of those camps out in the fields where we had 
that Thanksgiving dinner, of that entire U.S. military force, which was 
our ninth year in Bosnia helping stabilize that place from the 
fratricide and killing that occurred there before, lo and behold, who 
were those troops? Those troops were the National Guard. In that 
particular case, it was the National Guard unit from Pennsylvania. They 
knew they had a 6-month tour of duty and then they would go home--
remember, the National Guard members have their civilian jobs, and what 
they signed up for also encompasses if there is an emergency in their 
State, they are under the control of their Governor.
  Now we find that we have entered a new era in which we are stretched 
to the limit on our regular Army troops and almost as if it is an 
expected thing of replacing regular Army with National Guard. Of 
course, something is going to have to change, and I think the head of 
the National Guard and the head of the Reserves are addressing this 
because they are quite concerned that over time, they are going to see 
people not reenlisting in the Reserves and the Guard, and in order to 
compensate for that and encourage that, I think we are going to see our 
military leadership is going to be setting forth an agenda where Guard 
and Reserves would have a more certain anticipation that within a 
period of years, say, 4 years, they would serve a number of months of 
active duty. I hope that is going to solve some of the problems; 
otherwise, people might be voting with their feet as they leave the 
National Guard.
  The thrust of my remarks is to tell about when the National Guard is 
activated, as it has been very heroically from my State--the Florida 
National Guard was, in fact, in Iraq before the war started. We went in 
there with special operations troops, and they have performed 
magnificently. Initially, they thought they were going for 6 months. 
Then they understood 12 months. But in some cases, they were extended 
to 14 and 15 months.
  So in those long deployments, what happens back home? The families 
are anxious naturally. The families are usually without the primary 
breadwinner in the family. The families--the

[[Page 11145]]

remaining spouses and the children--are often facing a new kind of not 
only emotional problems but financial problems, not even to speak of 
the question of the financial situation facing the employer back home.
  What should we do? Talk to any National Guard commander and he will 
tell you that a most important support for those families is the Family 
Assistance Centers. We have them all over the country. They did not 
used to get nearly the attention they do today because when fully 
implemented, when fully funded, when giving the attention to the 
families back home while their loved ones are abroad, they are giving 
them counseling, they are helping them get proper counseling on 
financial management, and they are serving as a center point for 
networking among the other National Guard families while their loved 
ones are deployed overseas.
  Thus, last year, when we had this very same bill on the Senate floor, 
the Department of Defense authorization, I offered an amendment, and it 
was accepted, providing $10 million for these Family Assistance 
Centers. This is $10 million out of a $400 billion-plus DOD 
authorization bill. It was accepted. A lot of that $10 million has not 
been allocated in the last year. Lo and behold, we are seeing some 
resistance to doing the same thing.
  I wanted to give notice to the Senate that coming up will be my 
amendment authorizing $10 million for Family Assistance Centers for our 
National Guard families at home. It is one of the least things we can 
do because it has been so effective. It has been so effective over the 
course of the past year. But right now, they are anticipating that they 
are not going to have those resources because they are not in the 
National Guard budget. I want to make sure it is going to be in the 
National Guard budget.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the distinguished majority leader, the 
distinguished Democratic leader, the Democratic whip, myself, and other 
Senators have worked out this agreement that I now ask unanimous 
consent to be considered by the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator suspend for a moment, please. 
The Chair has some business to conduct. I apologize.

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