National Guard Amendment Will Improve Readiness

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss my amendment to H.R. 2740, the Defense appropriations bill.

With the cosponsorship of my fellow Kentuckian, Congressman Guthrie, my amendment increases Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard operations and maintenance by $2 million each for training support. This funding will support the training of National Guard and Reserve components by the Army in order to improve readiness.

General Lengyel of the National Guard Bureau, earlier this year before the Appropriations Committee, said: ``There is only one standard of readiness in fighting America's wars. This readiness requires the National Guard to be deployable, sustainable, and interoperable with our Active components.''

As the representative for Kentucky's National Guard headquarters, it is essential we support training and coordination between the components of our Armed Forces.

I was proud to advocate for this important increased funding, which will allow Active-Duty Army personnel to more frequently advise, assist, and train with Guard and Reserve units on drill weekends to ensure both are meeting the same level of readiness.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for adopting this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source