[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 25590]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE MAJOR GENERAL DAVID F. WHERLEY, JR. DISTRICT OF 
        COLUMBIA NATIONAL GUARD RETENTION AND COLLEGE ACCESS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 22, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today I reintroduce the Major General 
David F. Wherley, Jr. District of Columbia National Guard Retention and 
College Access Act for technical reasons. I introduced this bill a 
month after the heartbreaking collision of two Red Line Metro trains 
here in the District of Columbia that took the lives of 9 area 
residents, 7 from the District, including a local hero, Major General 
David F. Wherley, Jr. I originally had introduced the District of 
Columbia National Guard Retention and College Access Act in May of this 
year, but after the Metro tragedy I said at the Wherleys' memorial 
service that I would rename this bill in honor of General Wherley, who 
not only served his country all his adult life and never forgot the men 
and women who served under him at home or at war, but was particularly 
attentive to the residents of the District of Columbia, especially the 
city's most troubled youth. Thereafter, Congressman Jose Serrano, chair 
of the Appropriations Financial Services subcommittee, was good enough 
to offer this renaming in his appropriations bill and to appropriate 
the funds without authorization this year and in prior years.
  Under General Wherley's command, the D.C. National Guard deployed 
several of its units in the Global War on Terrorism. General Wherley 
himself served courageously in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but at home 
he spent hours with me figuring out ways to get funds for programs for 
the District's children. We were always successful because he would 
show up, not only in my office, but wherever he was needed to go and 
get funds or to do service.
  General Wherley was a full-service leader. He not only commanded the 
D.C. National Guard; he worked closely with me and with city officials 
on programs for our city, its disadvantaged youth, and on keeping our 
Guard competitive as a premier force at home as well as abroad. He 
became one of us when he and his wife, Anne, decided to purchase a co-
op in Southeast, D.C., in the Capitol Hill community where they 
participated as hometown residents. Anne, who sadly also was killed in 
the train collision, was his high school sweetheart. At their joint 
memorial service, I only half-jokingly said that she did everything 
with him but run the D.C. Guard, because she was his helpmate in every 
aspect of his full and fruitful life.
  As I highlighted when I originally introduced this bill earlier this 
session, the education incentives in my bill serve not only to 
encourage high quality recruits, but, when appropriated, have had the 
important benefit of helping the D.C. National Guard to maintain the 
force necessary to protect the federal presence because this funding 
helps equalize an important benefit compared with what is offered by 
Guard units in surrounding jurisdictions, which also are open to them.
  A strong D.C. National Guard, able to attract the best soldiers is 
especially important, given the dual mission of the D.C. National Guard 
to protect the federal presence as well as hometown D.C. This unique 
responsibility distinguishes the D.C. National Guard from any other 
National Guard and accounts for the generosity of the Appropriations 
Committee in the past. However, while the appropriators treat funding 
for the D.C. National Guard as a programmatic request, under past 
administrations, the Office of Management and Budget has contended that 
these funds are earmarks, putting them in jeopardy for consistent 
funding. It therefore is imperative that this important educational 
incentive be authorized appropriately to ensure its permanent 
sustainability. That is what this bill does today.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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