Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he is leaning toward supporting the proposal adopted by the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday night that would require women to register for the draft.
“I think I would lean towards it, but I’d like to hear the arguments for and against it,” the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told reporters Thursday at the Capitol. “But it seems to me if they are taking on a combat role, that that also means they would be eligible for registration, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I support drafting women. It’s a leap between registering and drafting.”
The question of whether women would be required to register for the Selective Service was raised when the Pentagon lifted the ban on women serving in combat this year. An amendment to the fiscal 2017 defense policy bill from Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., to require all 18- to 26-year-old women to register for the draft passed the House Armed Services Committee last night by a 32-30 bipartisan vote and is now heading to the full House floor.
The Senate begins considering its version of the National Defense Authorization Act next month. Once it passes a bill, both chambers will need to iron out differences in conference.
McCain said he thinks the committee will deal with the issue of women being drafted at the full committee markup that begins May 11.
The Senate marks up its version of the defense policy bill in a closed session, unlike the House.
McCain said he will form his opinion on the proposal based partly on the views of women on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“I would have a tendency also to go along, honestly whether this is appropriate or not, with the view of a lot of the women on the committee that have a better insight in many ways than I do. So I would certainly be very interested in their view on this issue,” he said.
Uniformed leaders of the Army and Marine Corps told McCain’s committee this year that they support requiring women to register for the draft.
