Congress has once again deferred making a decision as to whether to finally end draft registration or to expand it to include young women as well as young men.
What happened with Selective Service and the Fiscal Year 2022 NDAA?
The final version of this year’s this year’s annual National Defense [sic] Authorization Act (NDAA) approved by Congress on December 14th and signed into law today by President Biden makes no change to the provisions of the Military Selective Service Act (MSSA) which authorize the President to order men, but not women, to register with the Selective Service System (SSS) for a possible military draft. This leaves the current Selective Service registration and address reporting requirements (applicable to young men but not women) in effect, and the issue unresolved.
Earlier this year, both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees voted, without debate or hearings on Selective Service, to recommend that the Fiscal Year 2022 NDAA include a section that would have expanded draft registration to women. A version of the NDAA including this provision was approved by the full House of Representatives (without a floor vote on any of the proposed amendments related to Selective Service), and was on the verge of approval in the Senate.
However, in the face of a deadlock in the Senate over this and other provisions of the NDAA, House and Senate leaders worked out a back-room package of compromises that included removing the section of the FY 2022 NDAA that would have expanded draft registration to women.
Continue reading “Congress Punts Decision on Draft Registration Into 2022 or 2023”