The U.S. military has not drafted soldiers for more than 50 years, but Congress is considering proposals to revise mandatory military service, including expanding it to women for the first time and automatically registering those who are eligible.
The bills under consideration in the House and Senate are unlikely to become law and neither would immediately reinstate mandatory military service, but the debate over potential changes reflects lawmakers rethinking the conscription system as readiness issues emerge and the Defense Department faces recruiting challenges amid a range of risks and conflicts around the world.
The House last week approved $895 billion in military spending, including a 19.5% pay increase for soldiers, and passed an annual defense policy bill that includes a bipartisan proposal to automate draft registration. At the same time, a Senate committee last week approved a Department of Defense policy bill that would expand registration requirements to women. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and chairman of the committee, has been a supporter of the Gender Equality Act.
Under current law, most men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register with the Selective Service Board, an agency that maintains a database of information about people who may be drafted. The system is intended to help military officials determine who would be eligible for the draft if Congress and the president impose it. The last time there was a draft was in 1973, at the end of the Vietnam War.
Failure to register is considered a criminal offence and can result in various penalties.
At least 46 states and territories have laws that automatically register men for the Selective Draft when they get a driver's license or apply to college, helping to increase compliance with the program. In 2023, more than 15 million men nationwide will be registered, about 84% of those eligible.
Pentagon officials say the number of young Americans volunteering for military service is falling, continuing a downward trend since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Fewer than 1 percent of U.S. adults have served in combat roles, according to the latest report. That's a significant drop from the last draft era in the 1960s, when far more Americans served in combat.
A panel of military experts recommended to Congress in 2020 that including women in the draft was “in the national security interest of the United States.” Since then, Congress has repeatedly considered proposed changes, but each one has died before becoming law.
Women have been allowed to serve in all roles in the military, including ground combat, since 2016, and the idea that women should be eligible to serve has some bipartisan support. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she supported a similar proposal when she represented her state in the Legislature, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said the change “seems reasonable.”
Even the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has previously said he supports expanding women's roles in the military, including adding the same draft registration requirements as men.
But the idea of ​​including women in the military has long faced opposition from conservative Republicans, and at least one GOP Senate candidate has tried to use the issue to attack his Democratic opponent.
Shortly after the Senate committee approved the changes, Sam Brown, a combat-wounded former Army captain who is challenging Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat, in one of the nation's toughest races, blasted Rosen for supporting the proposal.
In a video posted to social media, Brown called the measure “absurd” and “unacceptable.” “Our daughters will not be forced to serve in the military,” she said, referring to Rosen by name but not to other Republican senators who have publicly voiced support for such a change.
Other right-wing Republicans were quick to link the proposal to add women to the draft registration to the rampant progressive trend in the U.S. military. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, called it another “woke” decision imposed on the nation's military.
“We need to face the reality,” Hawley told Fox News on Wednesday. “Women should not be in the draft. Women should not be forced to serve if they don't want to.”
The automatic registration proposal has been less controversial: Proponents argue it would streamline and reduce costs for agencies that spend millions of dollars a year reminding citizens and residents of a certain age that they are required by law to register.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Air Force veteran who spearheaded the proposal, said it would “cut existing government red tape, make critical government agencies more efficient, and save more American taxpayer money.”
Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska and a former Air Force officer, called the proposed reforms “great.”
However, the measure is poorly understood, and congressional action in recent days has been misinterpreted by some as a reinstatement of conscription altogether.
Cardi B, a well-known rapper known for occasionally speaking out on political topics, expressed skepticism about whether the current generation of young American men is ready to be called up to fight.
“These new kids? Are you going to send these new kids to war?” Cardi B said in a video that has now expired on social media.
“I have just one thing to say to America: Good luck.”
