An amendment to require women to register for the draft has prompted lawmakers to embark on a potential overhaul of the Selective Service, and a discussion about whether the nation even needs it anymore.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday became the latest GOP leader to endorse the idea of women registering for the draft, which is currently limited to men aged 18 to 26.
An amendment requiring women to register has been included in a Senate military funding authorization bill, backed by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former senior instructor for the U.S. Air Force JAG Corps.
“Given where we are today, with women in the military performing virtually all kinds of functions, I personally think it would be appropriate for them to register just like men do,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.
Requiring women to register has split the GOP, while most Democrats support it.
However, Republicans in the House late Monday stripped an amendment from the 2017 defense authorization bill that would have required women to register for the Selective Service. House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas., removed the amendment and called it “reckless policy.”
House GOP leaders have instead proposed a task force to examine an overhaul of the Selective Service, which has not been used to draft men into the military in four decades.
“There has not been a review of whether we need Selective Service since 1994,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said Tuesday. “Any so my strong view is that we need to ask the big questions and figure out whether we need it. If so, for what purpose? What would happen if we did away with it? If we do have it, who’s going to be involved?”
Graham said he supports a Selective Service overhaul that would augment the all-volunteer system with more highly trained military personnel.
“I’d like a Selective Service act that would supplement what we’ve already got,” Graham said, to include medical professionals, pilots and other specialists. “What we need to do is supplement with a very professional mid-sized force.”
