Republican senators are demanding that negotiators remove a provision in the annual defense bill that requires women to register for the Selective Service System.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-OH) led seven other Republican senators in a letter to Senate Committee on Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) and House Committee on Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL). They wrote: “We write in strong opposition to the provision in the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) forcing American women to register for the Selective Service System (SSS).”
The senators described that for the “third time in four years, Democrats are attempting to force women into the draft. Let’s be clear: American women have a proud legacy of service in our Armed Forces, especially so because their service has always been voluntary. Never in our history have women been forced to register for the draft.”
They insisted that “America’s daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers can decide to join the military themselves.”
“President Trump ran in part on a platform of avoiding World War III and ending the progressive policies infecting our military. The American people gave him a resounding electoral mandate,” they wrote, urging the chairmen to focus on national security instead of using the legislation as a “tool of liberal social policy.”
Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Steve Daines (R-MT), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) joined Hawley in the letter.
The letter comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the role of women in the military during a recent speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.