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1 Phillip L. Swagel, Estimating the Costs of Troop Deployments to U.S. Cities 1 (January 28, 2026)

handle is hein.congrec/estmcstr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE Phillip L. Swagel, Director U.S. Congress Washington, DC 20515 January 28, 2026 Honorable Jeff Merkley Ranking Member Committee on the Budget United States Senate Re: Estimating the Costs of Troop Deployments to U.S. Cities Dear Ranking Member Merkley: This letter responds to your request that the Congressional Budget Office estimate the costs associated with federal deployments of National Guard personnel to U.S. cities. You asked CBO to focus on three categories of costs: the costs to activate, deploy, and compensate National Guard personnel; the operational, logistical, and sustainment costs of maintaining those deployments; and any additional direct or indirect costs associated with the use of National Guard or other military forces. Since June 2025, the Administration has deployed National Guard personnel or active-duty Marine Corps personnel to six U.S. cities: Los Angeles, California; Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Chicago, Illinois; and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Administration has also kept 200 National Guard personnel mobilized in Texas after they left Chicago. CBO estimates that those deployments (excluding the one to New Orleans, which occurred at the end of the year) cost a total of approximately $496 million through the end of December 2025. The costs of those or other deployments in the future are highly uncertain, mainly because the scale, length, and location of such deployments are difficult to predict accurately. That uncertainty is compounded by legal challenges, which have stopped deployments to some cities, and by changes in the Administration's policies.' The factors CBO used to estimate the 1 On December 31, 2025, the President announced that the Administration would no longer continue the deployments in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago.