Congress is again reflecting on a recommendation that would compel women to sign up for the military draft in a landmark decision.
However, despite the fact that the proposed policy is included in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which was approved by a crucial Senate committee last week, members of the far-right have expressed concern about it.
Hawley’s Reservations
For instance, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley criticized the measure to give women the same rights as men, calling it yet another “woke” decision for the nation’s military.
According to Hawley in Fox News: “We need to get reality back in check here. There shouldn’t be women in the draft. They shouldn’t be forced to serve if they don’t want to.”
McConnell’s Backing
However, the bill has been supported by Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and more moderate Republicans like Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
According to the New York Times, Collins said that the change “seems logical.”
Current Law
Currently, the law requires nearly all men between the ages of 18 and 25 to register with Selective Service, the organization that manages the databases for the draft.
Most states consequently register those qualified when they get their driver’s permit or apply to college.
Compliance Rate
This tactic has kept the program’s compliance rate afloat and put over 15 million men on the lists. Just under 85% of those are actually qualified to serve.
According to the Selective Service System website, refusing to register for the draft has significant consequences, including a felony charge that could result in a substantial fine and a five-year prison sentence.
Selective Service
According to the website, “Unless a man provides proof that he is exempt from the registration requirement, his failure to register will result in referral to the Department of Justice for possible investigation and prosecution.”
Notwithstanding the number of enrolled men, the rate at which they really volunteer for the military has fallen even more, as per the Defense Department, as under 1% of American adults serve in active duty combat jobs.
Female Eligibility
Since 2016, women have been permitted to serve in all aspects of the military, including combat roles.
That change settled a moot 1981 High Court choice that observed that restricting women from forced service was alright, as the draft was intended to fill military combat jobs – something women wouldn’t have the option to accomplish for an additional 35 years.
Congressional Debate
The issue has been the subject of ongoing debate in Congress ever since women were included in combat roles.
Military specialists testifying before Congress have over and over said that enrolling women for the draft would be “in the national security interest of the United States.”
Abandoning Plans
Be that as it may, the thought has been pushed consistently in Congress for years, legislators have deserted such plans every single time.
Additionally, conservatives who have consistently opposed the measure and others of its kind are currently attempting to remove that wording from the annual defense authorization bill to which it is attached.
Hawley’s Efforts
Hawley, who led efforts to remove the clause from the same bill in 2021 and 2022, said on Fox News on Thursday that “normal people are like, ‘Leave our daughters alone'” when Democrats allegedly tried to experiment with the military.
This repeats his 2021 remarks, where he said Missourians felt “strongly that compelling women to fight our wars is wrong, and so do I.”
Republican Division
“It’s one thing to allow American women to choose this service, but it’s quite another to force it upon our daughters, sisters, and wives,” according to Hawley
Congress dropped the language from the bill that December — despite the fact that high-profile Republicans like McConnell and Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa conservative and military veteran, upheld it.
Opposition and Confusion
Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, stated that he was “opposed to that” and would attempt to veto the provision this time around.
He stated: “I don’t think this is the time to get into a debate on the floor of either house about that. We’re not anywhere near implementing a draft, and to me, it’s a distraction when we need to be talking about real issues that are immediate.”
However, some Democrats, such as Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated that the GOP’s refusal to approve the proposal “doesn’t make any sense.”
