Proposed National Guard cuts raise governors' ire

The winter meeting of the National Governors Association opened here Saturday with state executives determined to challenge the Bush administration over proposed Pentagon cuts in funding for the National Guard.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will meet privately with the governors Monday amid escalating concerns among the governors that the states have been shortchanged by long Guard deployments in Iraq and by what they see as disproportionate cuts in Guard funding.

Earlier this month, the governors signaled their displeasure with the Pentagon's new budget, which called for a reduction in National Guard troop strength, by sending a letter of protest. That brought a quick decision to rescind the proposed cut. But governors said they still have many questions about what the Pentagon is planning.

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, a Republican who met earlier with Rumsfeld and encouraged him to speak with all the governors at the NGA meeting, said states might not be able to respond adequately to natural disasters or terrorist attacks at home if the equipment shipped to Iraq with state Guard units is not replenished and if other Guard funding is reduced. "This is a formula for disaster," he said in an interview Saturday.

The governors also will meet with President Bush on Monday at the White House, but it is not known whether they will raise the Guard issue with him or save it for their session with Rumsfeld.