OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The House on Friday passed a measure that would require young women to register for Selective Service — the agency that handles military drafts — for the first time.
According to reports, if the provision makes it through the Senate and becomes part of the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, it will become mandatory for young women between the ages of 18 and 26 to sign up for the draft, just like men between those ages have been required to do for decades.
Lifesite News reports:
The $778 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual defense package, was passed after 181 Democrats and 135 Republicans in the House voted to approve it.
Only 38 Democrats and 75 Republicans voted against the legislation.
The policy bill will now be punted back to the Senate for reconciliation with an earlier version of the legislative package already approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
The report noted that the Senate committee already approved its version of the NDAA on a 23-2 vote July 21 a few days after language in the bill was changed to replace the reference to “males” in the language to “All Americans” between the aforementioned ages.
Separately, The Hill reported that the full Senate is slated to consider the House-passed version of the NDAA in October; if it passes with the current provision intact, it’s not clear when women would have to begin registering.
“The administration looks forward to continuing to work with Congress to set an appropriate and responsible level of defense spending to support the security of the nation,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy.
Dozens of Republicans who oppose forcing women to register for the draft have spoken out against the provision, including members of the House Freedom Caucus, who held a press conference on Wednesday to lash out against the measure.
“Everybody here on this stage … we support our men and women in uniform. … I represent about 80,000 veterans; I stand alongside our men and women in uniform. Whatever the pay raises, whatever the material supplies that they need in order to carry out their jobs, but what I do not support is blindly supporting legislation that is critically flawed at its core because of, oh, we’re in the minority,” noted Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas.
“Look, right now, today, if you vote for the NDAA, you are voting to draft our daughters. There is no other position you can take. The current law of the land does not have a requirement that our daughters be drafted, OK?
“If this NDAA is passed and signed into law, then our daughters will be required to sign up for Selective Service and make themselves available for the draft,” he added.
“Under no circumstances should a civilized country, the United States of America, with the ability to have a volunteer force with the size and the caliber and the strength we have say that we’re going to force women into being drafted into the United States military,” Roy continued. “I cannot put into words the extent to which that idea angers me and undermines who we are as a nation and I cannot believe that House Republicans are sweeping it aside, sweeping it under the rug, refusing to talk about it while they blindly march forward saying the ‘conference’ supports passage of the NDAA. I’m proud that the Freedom Caucus has taken a position against voting for the NDAA; I would implore my colleagues, my Republican colleagues to join us in opposing the NDAA.”
Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) added, “As usual, with the Swamp, the biggest scandal in the bill is the quietest one that they are trying to sneak in and hope no one notices. This defense authorization, for the first time in our history, would require teenage girls to register for the draft. No one knows about this because the Democrats have convinced the media that gender no longer exists so this isn’t a big deal.
“But I want to make sure the American people know, the Democrats and, sadly, some Republicans want to draft your daughters. This is wrong, and it’s immoral, but they are doing it anyway. We are definitely proud of the courageous women who have served and are serving in our military and defending our nation, but our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters should not be part of this draft. This is left-wing, woke agenda gone too far. … The vote is tomorrow, and the swamp wants to pass the bill,” Miller noted further.
