S-1205.1  _______________________________________________

                    SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8007

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Senators Oke, Benton and Roach

Read first time 02/05/97.  Referred to Committee on Government Operations.

Petitioning Congress to maintain a viable combat-ready Armed Forces.

    TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

    We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

    WHEREAS, The defense of our grand Republic and the freedoms we have derived therefrom were purchased by the sacrifices of our Armed Forces of our nation; and

    WHEREAS, Our Military Forces are trained to preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States and the citizens; and be capable of accomplishing their mission to be successful in combat defending our inalienable rights as Americans; and

    WHEREAS, Since the undeclared end of the Cold War, our Armed Forces have been drained to a potentially dangerous level by downsizing in personnel strengths and commitments to missions other than war, thereby decreasing our military capability to be prepared to confront a potential enemy or foe and to repel and deter their objectives on simultaneous fronts in our realm of economic, political, or defense posturing interests of the United States; and

    WHEREAS, The number of nondeployable combat trained personnel is increasing at an alarming rate, thereby further decreasing our operational readiness capability for wartime preparedness, coupled with the reduction of our National Guard and Reserve strengths, two major contributing factors to our readiness; and

    WHEREAS, The Congress is constitutionally empowered to raise, maintain, and appropriate funds for Armies, Navies, and Militias including the Washington Military and Reserves, and provide for the defense of this nation and its international scopes of interest;

    NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists are deeply concerned with the operational capabilities of our Armed Forces, their welfare, and the defense of this great nation, we implore and plead that the Congress exercise to their fullest extent their constitutional mandate to retain, restore, and appropriate necessary funding to maintain a viable combat-ready Armed Forces, in a perpetual wartime posture and a secondary force capable of providing for operations other than war for humanitarian or peacekeeping missions around the globe.

    BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.

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