by Penna Dexter

The United States Senate recently passed its annual defense policy bill by a vote of 83 to 13. Senator Ted Cruz worked with others in sponsoring and passing 12 amendments to the $602 billion 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. He says, “This bill includes many commendable provisions that make sure our military is strong and our men and women in uniform are fully prepared to defend our freedom.” But when it came down to a vote on the final bill, Senator Cruz was one of six Republicans to vote against it. In the Senator’s words, here’s why:

“Despite the many laudable objectives in this bill, I could not in good conscience, vote to draft our daughters into the military, sending them off to war and forcing them into combat.”

Ted Cruz says this provision in the National Defense Authorization Act is really an attempt to use the military for social engineering. Even though we currently don’t have a draft, males, ages 18-25, have to register for Selective Service. If the draft were ever reinstated, men would be compelled to serve. There are those in government who, in the name of inclusivity, want to also require this of women.

Since the administration has now opened all military roles to women and directed that women are eligible to serve in combat, the Senate Armed Services Committee says, “there is no further justification in limiting the duty to register under the Military Selective Service Act to men.” Committee Chairman, Senator John McCain says it’s “simply fair.”

Senator Mike Lee of Utah also opposed the defense bill on the basis of this provision forcing women into the Selective Service. He told the Heritage Foundation’s Daily Signal, “It’s one thing for women who want to be in combat and have earned it to do that, but forcing women to fight is a totally different matter.”

The draft provision could still be stripped out in conference committee when the House and Senate reconcile differences between their versions of the legislation. Back in May, the House stripped a draft requirement from its version of the bill.

An issue as momentous as requiring that women sign up for the draft should be subject to rigorous public debate. This requirement came out of the Armed Services Committee as part of the complete bill. The full Senate never debated the idea. But this proposed change to military policy needs deep scrutiny, and — frankly — should be opposed.

We’ve been promised that performance standards will remain the same even with women serving in combat. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness says, “The Selective Service system would have to divert scarce time and resources trying to evaluate great numbers of women, just to find the small percentage who might be minimally qualified for the combat arms.”

For this and lots of other reasons — better just not to go there.