Senate panel says women should register for military draft
WASHINGTON (AP) – A Senate panel is seconding the call for women to register for a military draft.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has released its version of the annual defense policy bill. It says women would be required to sign up with the Selective Service beginning in 2018.
The committee’s counterpart in the House included a provision requiring women to register in its version of the bill last month.
The Senate committee says the Pentagon’s decision last year to lift all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units erased any justification for barring women from registering.
The legislation authorizes defense spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
The committee is not shifting billions of dollars in wartime spending to pay for additional weapons and troops, as the House panel proposed.
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