A bill that aims to give the governor more say in how the Vermont National Guard is deployed appears dead on arrival. Supporters of H.355, known as the Defend the Guard Act, demanded on Tuesday that lawmakers hold an immediate hearing on the bill, given that Vermont Guard members are participati ng in the attacks on Iran. “We need our state government here in Montpelier to have a backbone and stand up, because the Vermont National Guard is needed here at home to fight fires here, not be starting fires halfway around the world,” said Isaac Evans-Frantz, director of Brattleboro advocacy group Action Corps. The bill would require the governor to sign off before any Guard members could be called up for federal military service. That would only be permitted in three instances: to defend the U.S. against an invasion, to suppress an insurrection and to execute U.S. laws. This requirement is needed, Evans-Frantz said, because the current U.S. president has clearly gone to war without the required approval of Congress and in doing so has illegally put Vermont Guard members in harm’s way. “The American people have not consented to this war, and it is Vermont’s responsibility to defend the Constitution and protect our Vermont National Guard members,” he said. A group supporting the bill demanded that H.355 get a hearing immediately. Several people held up signs that read “Birong Hold the Hearing,” referring to Rep. Matt Birong (D-Vergennes), chair of the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs. But Birong said he won’t budge. “I have no intention of taking this bill up,” Birong said on Tuesday. The bill’s supporters have a “laudable goal,” he said. Rep. Esme Cole (D-White River Junction) Credit: Kevin McCallum “On it’s surface, this concept feels very good, especially in this moment in time,” he told Seven Days. But he said the bill would likely violate the supremacy clause of the U.S Constitution. That holds that federal law takes precedent over state law when the two are in conflict. He also expressed concern that the bill could lead to the withdrawal of funding for the Guard, 95 percent of which comes from the federal government. “Then we’d find ourselves in a very precarious situation,” Birong said. Rep. Esme Cole (D-White River Junction), the only lawmaker to speak in favor of the bill on Tuesday, said the measure would at least ensure that the Guard would not be deployed illegally. “If the president is going to call on our Vermont Guard members to put their lives at risk, they deserve at the very least the guarantee of the required checks and balances to justify this extreme measure,” she said. Some of the speakers at the a press event on Tuesday called on Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) to order a hearing on the bill, but Birong said she is aware of his decision. Several speakers also highlighted the bombing of an elementary school that Iran has said killed at least 170 people, mostly girls between 7 and 12 years old. On Sunday, the research collective Bellingcat published a video that it said shows a Tomahawk missile hitting a nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facility — the first evidence that U.S. forces struck in the area. The New York Times and CNN have both said their analyses suggest the U.S. was behind the attack. The White House has said the Pentagon is investigating. The post ‘Defend the Guard’ Bill Gets Shot Down appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less