DeFazio leads charge to end military draft registration
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two lawmakers are waging a little-noticed campaign to abolish the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that manages draft registration.
They say the millions of dollars the agency spends each year preparing for the possibility of a military draft is a waste of money.
Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., say the Pentagon has no interest in returning to conscription due to the success of the all-volunteer force.
The Selective Service has a budget of $24 million and a full-time staff of 130. It maintains a database of about 17 million potential male draftees.
In the event of a draft, the agency would mobilize as many as 11,000 volunteers to serve on local draft boards that would decide if exemptions or deferments to military service were warranted.
The Selective Service is an "inexpensive insurance policy," said Lawrence Romo, the agency's director. "We are the true backup for the true emergency."
Men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register and can do so online or by mail. Those who fail to register with the Selective Service can be charged with a felony. The Justice Department hasn't prosecuted anyone for that offense since 1986.
There can be other consequences, though. Failing to register can mean the loss of financial aid for college, being refused employment with the federal government, and denied U.S. citizenship.
DeFazio says it makes no sense to threaten to penalize men who don't register when the odds of a draft are so remote.
Attempts to get rid of the agency have failed, DeFazio says, because too many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill worry that closing Selective Service down will make them look weak on national security.
"There is no one who wants this except 'chicken hawk' members of Congress," DeFazio says, using a term to describe a person who pushes for the use of military power but never served in the armed forces.
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Online:
Selective Service: http://www.sss.gov
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
DeFazio is a socialist. He has never done anything really worthwhile in his entire time in office. He needs to go as do many of the other socialists and communists in the House and Senate. Check to see where he keeps his money all you off shore haters. He a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, check it out.
I was drafted in '71. Â I think they quit drafting in 72 or 73. Â Have they (the Selective Service) been getting 24 MILLION a year since then?????? Holy Cow...where did that money end up? Â It should have gone for better care for our Veterans (and I don't mean me...I came home unscathed) Â I doubt that we will ever have to draft again...but if the S.S.(interesting acronym) get that desperate..they can give me a call, I'll go another round.....But I've got to warn you...I'm a screamer.
@slumlord420  You pose an interesting question.  Back in the day, the draft dodgers came up with all kinds of ploys.. football injury/flat feet/conscientious objections etc......Would being a Mother exempt you??  Would PMS??
@Phil @slumlord420 Why should being a mother exempt you when being a father won't. Also, women that serve in the military that are single mothers are not exempted from overseas deployment.
@slumlord420 @Phil I agree completely,  it should not.  I just see a lot of potential "deferments"
The Supreme Court decided in 1981 that females being excluded from draft registration requirements didn't violate the constitution. Their reasoning was that females were excluded from combat so they could be excluded from registration requirements. Now that women will be allowed to serve in combat, if Defazio can't get rid of registration will he and others demand that women have the same obligation as men to register.