Bush’s National Guard Policies Criticized

WASHINGTON - Governors crossing party lines are criticizing Bush administration policies on the National Guard, questioning a budget plan they say will cut Guard strength and leave states less able to respond to homegrown emergencies like hurricanes or a feared pandemic.

The state leaders, attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, hoped for answers from President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld at a White House gathering Monday.

“We’re going to fight that tooth and nail,” said Republican Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio. “The National Guard is not just important from the standpoint of disaster response in the state of Ohio, and homeland security, but is crucial for overall military preparedness. It would be a real mistake to cut back.”

Bush’s 2007 budget submission would support a state-controlled National Guard of about 333,000 citizen soldiers — the current total — rather than the 350,000 authorized by Congress. It also proposes to pay for 188,000 Army Reserve troops rather than the 205,000 authorized by Congress.

Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho said the administration has since signaled it would not push for that reduction in strength, but he questioned whether the cuts within the Pentagon’s spending proposals wouldn’t end up forcing reductions anyway. Those plans would cut $789 million next year, totaling $5.3 billion over five years, Kempthorne said.

“We’re going to say ‘Don’t do this,’” he said.

All 50 governors signed onto a letter to Bush earlier this month that opposed any cuts to the Guard.

“We’re getting ready for tsunamis. We’re getting ready for earthquakes. We’re getting ready for forest fires,” said Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington state. “Cut all that back and I think you’re left with a really troublesome situation.”

She and most other governors were quick to point out how critical the Guard was in helping resolve the crisis in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

They also complained that the federal government hasn’t moved to replace equipment that travels overseas when Guard units are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and then are left there, leaving state units less prepared for their tasks.

While the Guard may draw the most unified response, governors also hoped to hear from Bush and his officials on his budget proposals on Medicaid and welfare.

They also are pushing for federal action on illegal immigration, which governors from border states and beyond say is long overdue.

“This is a national issue,” said Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, where 500,000 attempts to illegally cross the border were turned back last year — let alone those that get through. Nationally there are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants.

“We’re absorbing through taxpayer dollars the incarceration costs, health care costs, education costs,” Napolitano said.

In states as far from the Mexican border as Utah, Missouri, Tennessee and Vermont, governors say immigrants are costing states dollars and spurring state legislation. They say the answer lies in Washington and hope to provide a push as Congress weighs several competing bills.

“It’s important to come together as governors with a single voice to give some direction,” said Republican Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah. “We deal with these issues day in and day out.”

Western governors have put together a multipoint plan that calls for tougher border enforcement that makes better use of technology; improved and speed the visa system; a guest worker program; and cooperation with Mexico and other Latin America countries to tackle the economic problems that send millions north looking for work.

By ROBERT TANNER, AP National Writer