On Tuesday, the US Senate voted in favor of a bill that would require women to register for the draft when they turn 18. Instead, it welcomed women into Selective Service for the first time, starting in 2018, unless that policy is stripped when the bill goes to conference.
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Texas Senator Ted Cruz was one of those Republicans.
Senate members passed a defense bill with an amendment requiring women to register for the draft – but it’s not likely to become a law right now. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said.
Although there is no active draft in the USA, young Americans could be subject to military conscription at any time through the Selective Service.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, accused President Barack Obama of not putting forth “a comprehensive plan to defeat the terrorist threat and protect Americans”. Last week, speaking of the new draft bill on the U.S. Senate floor, Cruz (father of two young girls), had plenty to say.
The National Defense Authorization Act has passed the Senate. While the White House threatened to veto the bill over many of its provisions, like those setting an “arbitrary” limit on the president’s National Security Council’s staff and reorganizing the military’s health care system, the Guantanamo provisions were at the top of its list.
The White House said in a statement last week that it opposes “many provisions” in the Senate bill, known as S. 2943, saying it would “hinder” the Pentagon’s capabilities, as well as the president’s own defense strategy, and curtail the administration’s role in carrying out national security and foreign policy.
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The push to treat women the same as men in signing up for the draft comes amid major changes in the military to level the playing field. We’ve operated with an all-volunteer force for decades; no one, regardless of gender, expects that they’ll be drafted; and the wars that we fight don’t depend upon conscription. McCain’s committee argued that any justification for excluding women was made null when the Pentagon lifted all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units past year. “While this bill is not ideal, I supported it because it provides needed resources for our national defense, for our service men and women fighting overseas, and for Alabama’s military assets that are so crucial to our national defense”. A change from Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and Republican Senator Cory Gardner allowed the Pentagon time analyze and to develop a replacement for the Russian-made engines and restricts their use for launchings.
