If a federal budget isn't passed by March 27th, the
Guard says it will have to cut $100 million in its spending
plans.
Colonel Laura Yeager says 2,000 maintenance staff will be
furloughed one day a week, which will affect the Guard's
ability to respond as quickly to fires and search and rescue
calls, "If they're on their furlough day, they're not
available which means we have to call in people on reserve
status. So, there will be a real delay depending on the time
the call comes in."
Yeager says other guard responsibilities -like aerial mapping
of illegal marijuana grows, high school cadet training programs,
and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment programs will also be
cut, "We don't think that we're going to have ammunition available
for soldiers to qualify with their weapons. There's about $1.5
million that we think we're going to be losing that funds a program
to provide behavioral health services for our service
members. There are military construction projects that are in
jeopardy."
The cuts amount to more than twelve percent of the Guard's
budget.
