June 22, 2024
Will your sons automatically be registered for the military draft because of a new bill passed by the House? And what about your daughters?
Right now, the answer is no. But there’s a large part of this story lot of people are missing. Your 18 to 25 year old sons are already required by federal law to register for the draft or face a felony or a fine up to $250,000. That’s been the law since the early 1900s. Now it is true that a week ago the house did pass a bill about a new draft requirement for men which I’m going to explain to you in just a second as well as what’s happening with young women… but first let me be extremely clear. There is no draft. For anyone. It’s not happening. We haven’t had a military draft in this country in 50 years. And the only way there will be another draft is if both the house and the senate pass a bill establishing a draft and the president signs it into law..
Now – as I said the requirement for young men between the ages of 18 and 25 for what’s called “Selective Service”-the draft- has been around forever. That’s not new. But in the House’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act which passed largely with Republican votes – they updated the Selective Service regulation for all male US citizens who are at least 18 but not yet 26. This house version simply makes registration for selective service for these Americans automatic instead of requiring each person to do it individually. Lawmakers who support this change say it’s necessary because often times young men are unaware of the registration requirement and that can get them in trouble with the law so making it automatic removes that issue.
The newly passed $895.3 billion House NDAA bill also has several other important provisions including a major pay raise for our military members, it authorizes development and procurement of new weapons and technology and it bolsters the pentagon’s role in u-s border security. The democrats largely voted against this bill because of the several conservative measures included, like a provision that would remove the travel reimbursement for service members who have to travel outside the state where they’re stationed for reproductive care. Now! This is important! This House version has *not* passed in the senate. This is not the law. In any way. Including the automatic Selective Service registration. Not the law. It won’t be the law unless the Senate also passes this bill and the president signs it and right now the Senate has its own version of the NDAA. Right now the committee draft version does not have the contentious conservative priorities included in the house version but it is more expensive coming in at a whopping $923.3 billion. This Senate draft version does include a provision that would require young women to also be registered for selective service. Take a breath. A couple of things. One the senate has tried to do this before. It’s been shot down every time. Two — this is just a committee draft of the bill. This hasn’t even been voted on by the senate and it will likely be changed or amended before it’s even considered on the Senate floor.
The bottom line is this – this happens every year. The House passes a version of the NDAA and the Senate passes a version of the NDAA. If those bills are different – which is the case this time, lawmakers in both chambers go to conference and they work out the differences and usually if those differences include controversial things, the controversial things usually go away so a compromise bill can pass both the house and the senate.
Read the House version of the NDAA here
Look at how each member of the House voted on this bill here.
Read the Senate’s Committee version of the NDAA here.
Read more about current Selective Service Requirements here.
