BOND LEADS GUARD CUTS OPPOSITION; BOND GETS BACKING OF 51 U.S. SENATORS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Missouri Senator Christopher Bond has helped secure the support of 51 senators to oppose a plan by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to close National Guard and Reserve units around the country.

Cheney proposed the cuts as one of the ways of cutting back spending in the defense budget, however, the senators disagreed with the practicality of making the cuts in a letter to Cheney this week.

The letter raises three concerns about the reductions: that the plan significantly reduces Army National Guard and Reserve forces; those reductions are at a higher rate than active Army reductions; and the plan moves away from "the historical precedent of a small standing army and a reliance on the militia."

The senators expressed concern that the cuts would not only seriously erode reserve forces, but also have a negative impact on communities who rely on the units for help in times of emergency.

The letter noted that elimination of more than one third of the Guard throughout the nation is not appropriate at this time, after units proved to be essential to the recent Desert Storm/Desert Shield operations.

In Missouri, over 2,300 Guard members would be affected by the cutbacks, along with 159 fulltime federal employees. The annual economic loss to Missouri communities would exceed $20 million in combined federal and state funds.

Southeast Missouri would be particularly hard hit, including the 1140th engineer company based here, with 183 guardsmen. In Jackson, the 1140th A company with 72 guardsmen would be eliminated, as well as other companies of the 1140th in Portageville, Perryville, Charleston, Fredericktown, Farmington, and Sikeston.

Sen. Bond, who is acting in his role as co-chairman of the Senate National Guard Caucus, argued that Guard and Reserve units offer an opportunity to provide a highly trained and cost-effective force.

"These cuts just won't fly," declared Bond. "We shot them down before and as this letter shows, we'll shoot them down again. The Guard means too much to our states and the country for it to be thanklessly disbanded by the Pentagon. Like elsewhere in the military, there will be some cuts, not wholesale dismissals."

Cutbacks in the nations's Guard and Reserve forces are a separate issue from the closing or cutting back of some military bases, which have also been recommended by Cheney and are now going through a review process.

Besides Bond, also signing the letter was Missouri's other senator, John Danforth, and Illinois Senator Alan Dixon.