The U.S. military hasn’t activated conscription in more than 50 years, but Congress is considering proposals to update the mandatory military service, including expanding it to women for the first time and automatically registering those eligible for call-up.
It is unlikely that the proposals that passed the House and Senate will become law, and no one will immediately restore the robust service draft. But the debate over potential changes reflects how lawmakers are reconsidering the draft as readiness issues come to the forefront and the Pentagon faces recruiting challenges amid numerous hazards and conflicts around the world.
Last week, the House passed its annual defense policy bill, which includes a bipartisan proposal to automatically allow draft registration along with authorizing $895 billion in military spending, including a 19.5% pay raise. At the same time, a Senate committee last week approved a version of the Defense Department policy bill that would expand registration requirements to women. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and chairman of the panel, defended the draft parity proposal.
Current law requires most males between the ages of 18 and 25 to register with the Selective Service, an agency that maintains a database of information on conscripts. The program aims to allow military officials to decide who would be eligible for the draft if Congress and the president activated it after the end of the Vietnam War in 1973.
Failure to register is considered a crime and may result in various penalties.
At least 46 states and territories have laws that automatically register men for the draft when they get a driver’s license or apply to college, which has helped drive the program’s high compliance rates. In 2023, more than 15 million men are enrolled nationwide, or approximately 84% of eligible men.
Pentagon officials say the number of young Americans volunteering for military service has declined, continuing a decline following the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the latest report, less than 1% of American adults serve in active combat roles, a significant decline from the last conscription era in the 1960s, when a much larger percentage of Americans served in combat.
A panel of military experts suggested to Congress in 2020 that including women in the draft would be “in the national security interest of the United States.” Since then, Congress has repeatedly considered proposed changes, but all have died before becoming law.
Since 2016, women have been allowed to serve in all roles in the military, including ground combat, and there is some bipartisan support for the idea that women should also be eligible for the draft. Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski noted that she advocated for a similar proposal while she served in the Alaska Statehouse, and Maine Sen. Susan Collins said the change “seems logical.”
Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has also previously expressed support for expanding the role of women in the military, including adding the same draft registration requirements as men.
But the idea of adding women to the draft has been met with a wall of opposition among conservative Republicans for years, and at least one Republican Senate candidate is trying to use the issue to attack his Democratic opponent.
Shortly after a Senate committee approved the changes, Sam Brown, a combat-wounded former Army general who is challenging Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada in one of the nation’s most competitive races, criticized Mr. Rosen for supporting the proposal. I did.
Mr Brown said the move was “outrageous” and “unacceptable” in a video he posted on social media. “Our daughters will not be forced into the draft,” he said, singling out Rosenman and noting a single Republican senator on the record who has supported such a change.
Other right-wing Republicans were quick to link the proposal to add women to the draft registration to what they say is an insanely progressive trend in the U.S. military. Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley called it another “woke” decision imposing an imposition on the state’s military.
“We need to get a reality check here,” Mr. Hawley said on Fox News. “There should be no women in the draft. They shouldn’t be forced to serve if they don’t want to.”
The automatic enrollment proposal has generated less controversy. Supporters argue it will streamline and lower spending for an agency that spends millions of dollars annually to remind citizens and residents of a certain age that registration is required by law.
“It would cut existing government bureaucracy, allow critical government agencies to run more efficiently and save money for more American taxpayers,” said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democratic congresswoman and Air Force veteran who led the proposal. “It will happen,” he said.
Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who also served in the Air Force, characterized the proposed changes as “excellent.”
But the bill is not well understood, and recent congressional action has been misinterpreted in some quarters as a restoration of the draft itself.
Popular rapper Cardi B, known for her tendency to occasionally weigh in on political topics, expressed skepticism that the current generation of American youth is ready to join the fray.
“These new kids? Do we want to send these new kids to fight this war?” Cardi B said in a video posted to social media after it expired:
“All I want to say to America is good luck.”
