[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8409]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      EQUIPPING OUR NATIONAL GUARD

  (Ms. SHEA-PORTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Madam Speaker, from its birth before the 
Revolutionary War, the National Guard has served as our first defense 
against catastrophic disaster. We all remember the scenes during 
Hurricane Katrina. The National Guard came to the rescue. They were the 
ones in the helicopters, along with the Coast Guard, rescuing people 
after FEMA had collapsed and had not fulfilled its responsibilities.
  After we invaded Iraq, it was our brave soldiers in the National 
Guard that once again answered the call to duty. They have served side 
by side with the regular forces doing an incredible job. They also have 
a job to do in our country, though. But multiple deployments and use of 
equipment has degraded the equipment they have at home to protect us in 
our own States.
  The National Guard currently has about 40 percent of the equipment 
that it needs at home. The American people deserve to know this, that 
we do not have the equipment that we need, and the National Guard has a 
right to have the equipment so they can fulfill their duty in case of a 
national domestic disaster.
  I thank the National Guard and their families who stand by day after 
day, serving us during any kind of catastrophe. I urge the American 
public to ask Congress and ask the executive branch to make sure that 
our National Guard has the equipment at home they need.

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