”Always ready, always there,” is the motto of the National Guard. Whether the Guard can remain ready and get there promptly could be in question without action from Congress.

That’s because the Guard faces a budget crunch from deploying members to Washington during and after the Jan. 6 riots. It cost the Guard more than half a billion dollars to deploy and support those troops.

Congress must act by Aug. 1 to reimburse the Guard or planned training and drills must be canceled. A significant impact on readiness will occur without the reimbursement, Army General Daniel R. Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said.

Congress should pass legislation to pay the Guard and guarantee they remain ready when called upon by states and the nation.

This country relies on the National Guard for both humanitarian and military missions and they must be able to be deployed quickly and on short notice. We count on the Guard to be there when flooding and natural disasters strike, when COVID strikes and to join the active-duty military in times of war.

When rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the Guard was called in both during and after the riots. More than 25,000 Guard members from states and territories across the nation were deployed to Washington to keep the Capitol and the seat of the federal government secure. Members of Congress have a selective memory when it suits them — quick to forget the Guard stepped in to quell the riots when many members believed their lives were threatened. And then the Guard continued to provide security for months.

Without that money, the Guard won’t be as prepared for future emergencies.

The crisis could also discourage enlistment and renewals of enlistment in the Guard. Canceled drills and training mean lost days — which count toward retirement as well as the loss of pay that Guard members use to supplement their family income.

Here’s the wild part: the Pentagon said they can make some budget adjustments to foot the $521 million that Guard officials have requested, according to Roll Call. The funding would be taken from lower priority facilities maintenance projects.

Yet Congress continues to dawdle. Whatever the means of funding, Congress must act.

Guard members have no choice but to deploy when called upon, so if Congress needs them again the Guard will go to Washington. What Congress and the nation may find, though, is a Guard less prepared and able to pull off deployments quickly and efficiently because of lack of funding for the basic costs of equipment maintenance and training.

Congress seems to have no trouble coming up with multi—billion dollar spending plans in times of national crisis. They should apply the same sense of urgency to pay the Guard and keep it ready and there when their country calls.

— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS