U.S. Military Draft Legislation Status

mukraker

[mukraker]

*** VANITY post ***

In regard to a U.S. military draft, there has been legislation introduced in the Congress, but it isn't going anywhere fast.

The Universal National Service Act of 2003 was introduced in both the U.S. Senate (S. 89) and the House (H.R. 163) on January 7, 2003. In the Senate the bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services. In the House it was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services on January 7, 2003 and then Executive comment was requested from DOD and the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Total Force on February 3, 2003.

No further action has taken place on either bill. Only one Senator and 14 Representatives support the legislation.

In other words, it ain't gonna happen.

[For reference, the current status of H.R. 163 can be found at http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:HR00163:@@@L&summ2=m&. Status of S. 89 can be found at http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SN00089:@@@X.]

It is interesting to see just who the sponsors of these bills are. In the Senate, the bill was introduced by Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, a Democrat from South Carolina. He has no co-sponsors.

In the House the bill was introduced by Representatives Charlie Rangel (NY), Jim McDermott (WA), John Conyers (MI), John Lewis (GA), Fortney Pete Stark (CA), and Neil Abercrombie (HI). It has since gained the support of Connie Brown (FL), William Lacy Clay, Jr. (MO), Elijah Cummings (MD), Alcee Hastings (FL), Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX), Jim Moran (VA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), and Nydia Velazquez (NY). All are Democrats.

I guess mandatory military service for everyone is the Democrat way of looking out for the "little guys" they always claim to champion.

[Burkeman1]

A draft will rip this country apart and sink the GOP for decades.

[lormand]

That idiot from Nebraska, Chuck McCain Hagel is in favor of it too.

[TankerKC]

A draft will rip this country apart and sink the GOP for decades.

Which is why the Dems support it.

[The Right Stuff]

Exactly. Look who's sponsoring it and see what they hope to accomplish.

[Future Snake Eater]

The same would happen to the military, no doubt.

[TomGuy]

It appears that most of the members of the 'Progressive Caucus' are supporting this bill. Curious. 30 years ago, they would have been very people opposing the draft.

Not that they have a political agenda.... righhhhhhttt!

[mel]

ditto

[Dr. Frank fan]

It's essentially an attempt at extortion.

Most of the people behind it are knee-jerk military-action-opposers. What they are doing is trying to threaten a greater proportion of the American public with conscription in the hopes that they will withdraw support for military action. In other words they want to scare people into coming around to their way of thinking - which is extortion.

What I still can't figure out is why the heck someone interviewing Rangel or Hagel doesn't just say "if you want a bigger military why doesn't Congress just increase the caps on military size and provide the funding to do it and let more volunteers enlist??" That would expose this whole issue as the fraudulent extortion attempt that it is.

[rwfromkansas]

Good point.

[Who dat?]

In other words, it ain't gonna happen.

Of course not. Especially after that loon Jimmy Carter pardoned the last batch of draft dodgers.

I have quite a few family members that were either drafted or joined feeling that being drafted was imminent. (Like an uncle that knew if he was drafted he’d be going in the Army, but wanted to go into the Navy for whatever reason so he joined up.)

Anyway, they are pretty much unanimously peeved at going in only to have those that ran away being welcomed with open arms. They’ve pledged violent acts should someone start up that nonsense again. Maybe it’s just talk on their part but maybe it isn’t.

[Burkeman1]

My Dad "volunteered" as well during Viet Nam at the suggestion of his father and uncles who also "volunteered" for WWI and WWII. You have a far greater chance of getting a cozy position in the rear if you volunteer. Some in my family did - others didn't- and paid the price.

[Burkeman1]

Even though my father was a "volunteer" in Viet Nam (he did so thinking he would get a cushy rear lines job)- there were major divisions between the "RA" types (regular army) or "lifers" and the draftees. It created serious morale problems.

A draft would be disasterous in this day and age and for this war.

[mukraker]

In the last month, several college newspapers have jumped on the "Fear for your lives - the draft is coming" bandwagon. It all sems to be tracable back to an article on a left-wing bulletin board, about this legislation. Of course, none of these kid editors bothered to check the status of the legislation. It was yet another attempt to scare young people into voting Democrat. It's a pure political piece of legislation, going no where, but making huge waves and generating a lot of press for the sponsors.

[agincourt1415]

The Strength of our Military is built on people that stay in.

Not a bunch of idiots that serve 2 years and get out, hell you can't train them in 2 years.