Idaho State Senate Passes Defend the Guard Act

The legislation would prohibit the deployment of the state's National Guard to a combat zone without a declaration of war from Congress

On Monday, Idaho’s state Senate passed the Defend the Guard Act, legislation that would prohibit the deployment of the state’s National Guard to a combat zone without a declaration of war from Congress, as required by the Constitution.

The bill was introduced in January by Sen. Ben Adams and passed in a vote of 27-8. It now heads to the state’s House of Representatives for consideration.

Idaho’s Senate is the third state legislature to approve the Defend the Guard Act. “This is the third legislative body to pass Defend the Guard this year, following New Hampshire and Arizona,” Bring Our Troops Home, the group behind Defend the Guard, wrote on X.

Defend the Guard is a national movement to rein in the federal government’s ability to wage war by restricting the deployment of the National Guard to dangerous combat zones.

Visit Defendtheguard.us to see if the Defend the Guard Act has been introduced in your state. Click here to volunteer for phone banking to help get the legislation passed in states where it has been introduced.

Military.com reported in 2015 that “Guard and Reserve units made up about 45 percent of the total force sent to Iraq and Afghanistan and received about 18.4 percent of the casualties.”

National Guard units are still deployed to wars in the Middle East and Africa, including in Syria and Somalia. The recent drone attack that killed three members of the US Army Reserve at Tower 22 in Jordan also wounded about 40 members of the Arizona National Guard.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.