FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CITIZENS ALLIANCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE JOINS 12 OTHERS TO OBJECT TO THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE’S MISHANDLING OF THE DEFEND THE GUARD ACT

New Hampshire (April 23rd, 2024) — Today, Citizens Alliance of New Hampshire Executive Director Dan Gray joins a group of concerned individuals, including state representatives, military veterans, and leaders of various organizations in releasing the following statement to express their strong objection to the New Hampshire Senate's handling of House Bill 229, the Defend the Guard Act:

"We the undersigned object to the imposition of Interim Study on H.B. 229, the Defend the Guard Act, by the  New Hampshire Senate. We further object to the failure of any senator to request a roll-call vote, instead moving for Interim Study on a voice vote and without debate. There is an adage that a legislature without debate is no legislature at all, but a social club. The only reasonable assumption voters can take from this is that nearly every New Hampshire senator opposed H.B. 229, and respond appropriately at the ballot box.

This failure to defend the integrity of the New Hampshire National Guard is especially egregious considering the current, chaotic state of the world. It is very likely that within the next twelve months that New Hampshire National Guardsmen will be deployed into an unauthorized combat zone, participating in war without the consent of their representatives.

The primary objection to H.B. 229 is the false threat that the federal government would withhold federal funding of the National Guard in response to passage. Multiple members of Congress have publicly confirmed this is an impossibility, while no member of Congress, White House official, or senior military officer has ever made an on-the-record statement that they would support defunding the Guard.

We the undersigned reject the absurd dichotomy that legislators must choose between defending the lives of soldiers or ensuring a steady flow of federal dollars; we reject the heinous implication that shipping young  Granite Staters overseas to be killed in undeclared wars is permissible so long as New Hampshire can be paid for their demise (with their own tax dollars). This argument is not appropriate justification for the negligence of the legislature in upholding its sovereign duty to defend its residents.

As stated multiple times in public testimony for H.B. 229 for both its House and Senate hearings, the United  States Congress has not voted to declare war since World War II. That has not prevented the United States from engaging in a plethora of wars and military campaigns across the globe based on executive whim, the circumvention of domestic law by international bodies, and blank checks from an absentee Congress which don’t pass legal muster. The consequences have been endless war, hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded Americans, and a precipitous deterioration of the rule of law and the idea of representative government.

The state of New Hampshire cannot directly stop this unconstitutional behavior at the federal level or prevent the deployment of the regular U.S. Armed Forces. But our state can assert control over our own National  Guard units. And by refusing to pass, or even hold a recorded vote for H.B. 229, the New Hampshire Senate has made itself derelict in its duty to its constituents and its obligation to the United States Constitution.”

Signed,

Tom Mannion, State Rep (@mannion4nh)
Emily Phillips, Assistant Majority Leader
Dan McKnight, Chairman, Bring Our Troops Home (@TroopsHomeUS)
Derek Proulx, NH State Director, Bring Our Troops Home (@DefendGuardNH)
Melissa Creem, Chair, New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (@NHLiberty)
Michael Granger, Political Director, New Hampshire Liberty Alliance  
Daniel Gray, Executive Director, Citizens Alliance of New Hampshire (@CANewHampshire)
Rep. Hoell, Co-chair, NH House Freedom Caucus
Matt Soss, Northeast Manager, American Action Fund  
Andrew Manuse, Chairman, RebuildNH
Melissa Blasek, Executive Director, RebuildNH (@rebuildnh)
Will Thomas, NH Veterans for Peace
Chris Moore, NH Veterans for Peace

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