More than 100 lawmakers are calling for a provision to be included in the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that would potentially resolve a contentious debate over the Air Force’s proposal to transfer National Guardsmen to the Space Force without the consent of their governors.
Retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, issued the following statement on a bipartisan letter from 125 lawmakers urging the leadership of the Senate and House Armed Services committees to maintain the longstanding authority of governors over the National Guard.
The nation's governors would maintain their ability to nix any proposed transfers of National Guard units to other components under a measure approved on May 22 by the House Armed Services Committee.
The chair and vice chair of the National Governors Association say the Air Force's latest plan for the National Guard constitutes "dangerous" federal overreach.
THE ISSUE: The Department of the Air Force is pushing forward a legislative proposal (LP480) in the Senate which seeks to forcibly transfer Air National Guard units performing space missions into the U.S. Space Force without consent of respective governors. We made considerable progress against LP480 in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, but our focus must now shift to the Senate version. With all 55 of the nation’s governors behind us, now is the time to make your voice heard.
The chief of the National Guard Bureau says the nation's governors have a "big concern" about the Air Force's proposed plan for the Guard's space personnel.
Fifty-three governors told Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Monday that the Air Force's scheme to take National Guard units without gubernatorial approval would "deeply damage the relationship between states and the federal government."
A bipartisan group of 10 state governors is urging the Department of the Air Force to retract Legislative Proposal 480, its plan to transfer the Air National Guard's space units to the Space Force.
A prominent member of Congress told a reporter April 17 that NGAUS should not "waste their time" fighting a legislative proposal from the Department of the Air Force to transfer the Air National Guard's space units to the Space Force.
The NGAUS concern is the dangerous precedent the proposal would set by bypassing the requirement in federal law to obtain the consent of the affected governors before transferring Air National Guard space units in seven states to the Space Force.
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