WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – The U.S. National Guard is seeking reimbursement for deployment of troops to Capitol Hill to defend the Congress premises during a protest by supporters of former president Donald Trump.
Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said Saturday that the readiness of the forces could be undermined otherwise.
“Without reimbursement funding, there is significant impact on National Guard readiness if we’re not able to resolve this in a timely manner,” Hokanson said in a statement as cited by The Hill.
Capitol police failed to prevent Trump supporters after they stormed the Congress and entered the building on Jan. 6, necessitating deployment of the guards.
The reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force will have to cancel some of their programs unless they are paid for the operation to end the protest in favor of Trump.
“The National Guard used fiscal year 2021 funding to pay for the operational Capital response from January to May. By front-loading the money, it ensured the Soldiers and Airmen who volunteered for the mission were paid,” the National Guard Bureau said in a statement to The Hill. “The nearly $521 million cost of that mission is still a deficit against our budget. Without the reimbursement funding, the National Guard will either curtail, or reduce, its drill weekends, annual training, operations and maintenance for the months of August and September.”
There are said to be more than 500 riot cases so far, involving those incited by the former president to prevent the certification of now-President Joe Biden’s victory by Congress.
The former president keeps announcing himself winner of the November race against Biden, whom he accuses of having become president through voter fraud.