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House lawmakers want to end Selective Service
As the Selective Service considers whether to require women to register for the draft, two House lawmakers want to take a different tack: ending the Selective Service.
Reps. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) are introducing legislation Wednesday that would end the independent federal agency that still collects information from all men 18 to 25 in case the draft is reinstated.
The lawmakers argue that the military draft is something out of a different era that is unnecessary today, and the federal government should not spend $24 million annually on the Selective Service.
The Selective Service has been back in the news this year after the Pentagon ended the ban on women serving in combat positions.
In announcing the end of the ban on women in combat in January, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the agency would have to determine whether to require women to register.
“I don't know who the hell controls Selective Service, if you want to know the truth,” Panetta said. “But, you know, whoever does, they're going to have to exercise some judgment based on what we just did.”
Other lawmakers have gone in the opposite direction. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who has long called for a re-instatement of the draft, pushed a plan to require women to register for the draft, too, after the combat ban was lifted.
The legislation from DeFazio and Coffman would allow the president to reinstate the Selective Service with an executive order.
