| Both houses of the West Virginia legislature have introduced a resolution asking Congress to empower WV's governor to bring home the state's National Guard from open-ended deployment overseas.
A vote could happen before the final hour of the legislature tonight.
"Governors need to reclaim the federal take-over of the Guard, authority which has been misused by President Bush," said Rev. Jim Lewis of WV Patriots for Peace.
Strongly worded resolutions in HCR 85 & SCR 91), co- sponsored by 29 Delegates and four Senators, implore Congress to bring West Virginia's National Guard home to civic and state duty to protect citizens at home.
The Senate resolution recognizes that the WV National Guard, "has served courageously and faithfully in Afghanistan and Iraq for the past several years and deserves the respect and admiration of all West Virginians."
The House Resolution acknowledges that "West Virginians are ever mindful of natural and man made disasters which threaten lives and property such as the Buffalo Creek disaster of February 26, 1972, and the importance of having West Virginia's National Guard units prepared and ready for deployment to provide aid in any imminent emergency."
The federal government nationalized the power to utilize the nation's National Guard, taking that authority away from the governors of states.
The resolutions call on Congress "to revisit the 1986 Montgomery Amendment and adopt legislation that restores the powers of the Governors of the several states to withhold consent to federalization of their National Guards, except where a declaration of war has been adopted or where the United States faces attack or invasion."
Rev. Jim Lewis of WV Patriots for Peace said, "It's time for the WV National Guard to come home - past time. Families need Guard members back home, and communities need them home where they can be in position to address homeland security issues and emergencies as they arise in West Virginia."
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