Buckling under conservative pressure, the Republican-led House Rules Committee pulled a legislative sleight of hand and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required women between the ages of 18 and 25 to sign up for a military draft.
The committee's chairman, Rep Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said in a statement today the action was taken to prevent what he called a "reckless policy" from moving forward without closer study of its impact.
"I have the utmost respect and deepest appreciation for the young women who bravely volunteer to serve our country, but I am adamantly opposed to coercing America's daughters to sign up for the Selective Service at 18 years of age," Sessions said.
The Rules Committee wields substantial influence over legislation before it moves to the House floor. The full House planned to start work on the bill today.
A Senate bill does include a version of the provision, so the congressional debate over whether women should register isn't over.
Conservatives have warned that requiring women to sign up for a military draft is a dangerous blurring of gender lines.
Pressed about the Rules panel's change in the defense bill, Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declined at a news conference to comment, deferring to the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep Mac Thornberry, R-Texas. Thornberry said a broader discussion of whether the nation even needs the Selective Service at a time of the all-volunteer force might be necessary.
"The question is, do we need Selective Service?" Thornberry said. "We want to make decisions with the facts on hand."
Military leaders maintain the all-volunteer force is working and do not want a return to conscription. The US has not had a military draft since 1973, in the waning years of the Vietnam War era. Still, all men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to register.
"It's what a man's got to do," says the Selective Service System's website. The Selective Service is an independent federal agency.
The House Armed Services Committee last month voted 32-30 to require women to register. Six Republicans voted in favor of adding the provision to the defense policy bill that authorizes military spending for the fiscal year that begins October 1.
