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Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
BRATTLEBORO-In response to Rep. Laura Sibilia's legislative update on House 355, the Defend the Guard Act, introduced in the Vermont House of Representatives on Feb. 26, 2025, yet to be voted on: this act is critical to prevent the federal misuse of the Vermont National Guard.
The act would require the governor to review all orders that place the Vermont National Guard on "federal active duty status," and to take "all necessary and appropriate action to prevent the Vermont National Guard from being placed on federal active duty" unless the U.S. Congress has passed an official declaration of war or has explicitly called the Vermont National Guard to repel a military invasion of the United States; suppress an insurrection; or execute constitutional laws of the United States.
I agree that we have not declared war since 1942, but that condition can be rephrased in the act to require that deployment for military excursions only brought by Congress, as required by the U.S. Constitution, such as the authorizations for the Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan wars.
Congress has explicitly voted to not authorize the current military action against Iran. As such, the Defend the Guard Act could require our governor to refuse to release the Vermont National Guard for federal active duty in this unconstitutional war.
Following up on Elayne Clift's call for common-sense measures to reduce the amount of gun violence in Vermont, I urge all of us to contact our legislators to support passing a law that would expand and implement background checks when a firearm is sold in Vermont. The check would...
