The House Armed Services Committee took a big and unexpected step toward making women register for the draft Wednesday night, as a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to back a measure that its own sponsor hoped would fail.
(WashingtonPost)- “Right now the draft is sexist,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who filed an amendment to the House’s annual defense authorization bill to require women between the ages of 18 and 26 to register for the Selective Service, the government agency that keeps records of who is eligible to be conscripted.
Hunter, who is against the Obama administration’s recent policy change allowing women to serve in all combat roles, said he only proposed the measure to start a discussion about the draft. He voted against his own amendment, arguing that anyone who favored it would be siding with the administration.
But Hunter’s gamble that committee members would shy away from forcing women into the draft backfired when a slim majority — including five Republicans — opted to endorse the measure by a vote of 32 to 30.
“We have a standards-based force now, and we don’t have a standards-based Selective Service,” Rep. Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.) argued, joining Democrats, all but one of whom also supported the measure.
“We should be willing to support universal conscription,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said. “There’s great merit in recognizing that each of us have an obligation to be willing to serve our country in a time of war.”