The Trump Administration has reversed course and extended authorization of National Guard service. This comes following pushes from many elected officials, including two New York congressmen.
Congressmen Antonio Delgado and John Katko praise President Trump’s announcement Thursday that he will lengthen the National Guard service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, authority for National Guard deployment in New York was set to expire on June 24. Delgado, a 19th District Democrat, and Katko, a 24th District Republican, had written to Trump asking that he extend authorization to ensure service members qualify for benefits such as the Post-9/11 GI bill. Delgado says the National Guard in New York has facilitated testing and health care assistance, helped with food distribution and more, and the service members deserve benefits.
