Bipartisan group of lawmakers opposes increased federal control over National Guard

A bipartisan group of 124 members of Congress, led by Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colorado, sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees urging it to adopt language in the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act to protect the power that governors have overseeing National Guard forces in their states.

“Should Congress strip governors of the ability to manage National Guard units within their states, it would risk fundamentally altering the Guard’s mission and identity, as well as set a concerning precedent whose impacts may be broader than anticipated,” wrote the lawmakers.

Title 32 of U.S. Code gives governors power over National Guard personnel in their respective states. However, Legislative Proposal 480 would move Air National Guard units with space missions into the U.S. Space Force without consent from governors.

Yet, the House NDAA included language to require gubernatorial consent to allow this transfer, protecting the Guard’s Title 32 mission.

"For 120 years, National Guard forces have served under governors’ command in all 50 states and territories," a release said. "These service members fulfill important functions in the national defense, as well as Title 32 missions in their communities. The U.S. Air Force proposal disregards this longstanding tradition of the National Guard, as well as the choice by members of the Guard to serve in the branch and state of their choosing."

All 55 state and territorial governors oppose LP 480, as do many prominent Colorado lawmakers and the National Guard Association of the United States and Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States.

The letter comes as Hickenlooper was among 86 members of Congress to call on the Department of Defense to retract LP 480. Along with 31 other lawmakers, he also submitted an unsuccessful NDAA amendment to only permit the transfer with gubernatorial approval.

Colorado has a large Space Force presence, including the most National Guard members conducting space missions of any state.

Read the letter here.