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Senators propose abolishing the Selective Service
Stars & Stripes ^ | May 14, 2026 | Svetlana Shkolnikova

Posted on 05/17/2026 9:52:17 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation Thursday to abolish the government agency that keeps a list of men eligible for the military draft. The senators say the agency, known as the Selective Service System, is costly and a relic of the past, operating with a budget of $31 million per year to prepare for a draft that has not occurred since 1973. “Our volunteer military forces are the strongest in the world, and there is no need to replicate the same draft that sent 2 million unwilling young men to war 50 years ago,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Wyden cosponsored the bill alongside Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Paul, a vocal advocate for congressional war powers, said Congress will declare war if it is worth fighting, and people will volunteer to fight it.

“This outdated government program no longer serves a purpose and should be eliminated permanently,” he said.

The bill comes as the Selective Service will begin automating the registration of men ages 18 to 25 for a potential draft, removing a decades-old requirement that male U.S. citizens and most male residents register themselves. News that the agency was moving forward with the automation, which will pull information from various federal government databases and is expected to be completed by December, sparked fears of a potential draft stemming from the current war against Iran. But lawmakers say the days of calling up young men to fight are over.

(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: draft; randpaul; selectiveservice; vietnamwar
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To: Husker24

Husker24 nails it!


21 posted on 05/17/2026 10:08:53 AM PDT by PubliusMM (Liberalism is a mental disease.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
Only the dead have seen the end of war. Fake quote from Plato but still very true today. Who can say if we need a huge call up of fighting men again? I can confidently predict nobody alive today will see the end of war .
22 posted on 05/17/2026 10:09:55 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: Z28.310

Starting this year.


23 posted on 05/17/2026 10:10:04 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

I want to see it expanded. If a draft happens, All of Congress and all defense contractors up to the CEO should have to get paid according to a military pay scale. CEO of Lockheed or Raytheon? 234k a year, and so forth, right on down.

If blue collar men have to give up their freedom, and go into involuntary servitude for a few years when they wave the flag, then the war industry and the people who cause and send them to war should have to sacrifice also.


24 posted on 05/17/2026 10:10:33 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: Nateman

We ramped up pretty quickly in 1940.


25 posted on 05/17/2026 10:10:35 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: Secret Agent Man

Excellent idea since the feminazis keep screeching about equality.


26 posted on 05/17/2026 10:10:41 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: DesertRhino

Agreed.


27 posted on 05/17/2026 10:11:09 AM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
to prepare for a draft that has not occurred since 1973

Yes, the good ol' days as a 10 year old watching older cousins and older relatives of friends get called up for Vietnam. I was lucky but it was a great time to be a kid having that possible future hanging over your head in the late 60's and early '70's.

28 posted on 05/17/2026 10:11:34 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

I reflexively distrust Ron Wyden, and hesitate to trust Rand Paul...


29 posted on 05/17/2026 10:12:26 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14/12- 930am -rampage begins... 12/15/12 - 1030am - Obama team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: Z28.310

No thanks on the slavery


30 posted on 05/17/2026 10:14:43 AM PDT by Manuel OKelley
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To: SpaceBar

“There should be compulsory military service for men similar to South Korea.”

Involutary Servitude was made illegal with the 13th amendment. The reason teh draft was finally ended was that cases were winding their way up to the Supreme Court and it’s very unlikely they would pass muster anymore.

In fact, the reason we even call it “Selective Service” is that Woodrow Wilson said it wasn’t a draft. He said the entire nation had “volunteered” through their representatives when Congress declared war. So he was merely “selecting” from a gigantic pool of volunteers.

Besides, today you’d be turning over your sons and daughters to lesbian women officers and NCOS, and the military is still dominated by leftist woke, hostile to normal America, and will immediately revert the instant Trump is gone.


31 posted on 05/17/2026 10:16:49 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

“Senators propose abolishing the Selective Service”. They want a draft instead.


32 posted on 05/17/2026 10:16:51 AM PDT by kawhill (Dywedwch Wrthbym because + Add translation Welsh-English dictionary 'Tell Us')
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To: dfwgator

About the same cost as 20 Tomahawk missiles. Well worth the money when you really it .


33 posted on 05/17/2026 10:16:56 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: kawhill

The Left would love a draft, it’s a great way to get their people embedded, just as the Bolsheviks infiltrated the Russian army during WWI.


34 posted on 05/17/2026 10:17:58 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

I’m think the REAL PROBLEM is that too many Leftists are refusing to register.


35 posted on 05/17/2026 10:20:03 AM PDT by rbg81 (=)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Bipartisan. That’s when the stoopid party and the evil party get together and do something that’s both stupid and evil.


36 posted on 05/17/2026 10:21:18 AM PDT by Arkady
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To: rbg81

I’d be more worried about the Leftists who are registering and volunteering.


37 posted on 05/17/2026 10:21:25 AM PDT by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: No name given

Lets see how popular a draft is id defense CEOs get a 4 star general salary, and the Board all gets 3 star, etc...

Basically, a draft is an effort to avoid paying a market wage for soldiers. If you pay a Blackwater contractor salary for Infantry, you’ll have more than you can handle.

Free market goes right out the window when it’s time for war. Except of course for the defense industry, they can rake it in. They would laugh in your face if you waved the flag at them and suggested they should sacrifice their pay as long as our kids are asked to sacrifice their freedom and their very lives.


38 posted on 05/17/2026 10:22:54 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: mikey_hates_everything
...get called up for Vietnam...

I was born in 1960 so Vietnam to me was like a worthless forever war chewing up good Americans. I fully intended to go to Canada before I'd join in. Latter on , after I realized some things are worth fighting for I joined the Navy under Reagan's command. Can't say I enjoyed it but I can say I am happy now with my treatment by the VA.

39 posted on 05/17/2026 10:25:30 AM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: rbg81

And registering is not the only problem. 77% of Americans under 25 cannot be inducted due to obesity, illiteracy and poor education, drugs and criminal records.

A draft is gonna grab the small percentage of kids who love their life right and were going places.


40 posted on 05/17/2026 10:26:40 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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