By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
The Vietnam War was the last time a person was inducted into military service through the Selective Service System, otherwise referred to as the Draft. The last instance of the Draft was on June 30, 1973. However, despite not being used in over half a century men still have to register for the Draft either at the same time they register to vote or electronically with the Selective Service System.
United States Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) recently filed a bill to repeal the draft with the 118 Congress.
He filed this Senate Bill on Aug. 1 with fellow Republican Cynthia Lummis (WY) and Democrat Ron Wyden (OR) listed as cosponsors.
“The Selective Service is a long-outdated program that eats up millions of taxpayer dollars and gives us nothing in return,” Wyden said. “Our volunteer military forces are the strongest in the world, and there simply isn’t a need to replicate the same draft that sent two million unwilling young men to war 50 years ago. This is a commonsense bill that brings our military into the twentieth century and keeps money in American wallets.”
“I’ve long stated that if a war is worth fighting, Congress will vote to declare it and people will volunteer,” Paul added. “This outdated government program no longer serves a purpose and should be eliminated permanently.”
The bill is endorsed by the Center on Conscience and War, World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, Resisters.info, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Antiwar.com, International Peace Research Association, American Friends Service Committee, Mennonite Central Committee U.S., War Resisters League, Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft.
Specifically the three-page bill states all “assets, records, contracts and property” currently held by the Selective Service System as well as the “unexpended balances” would be transferred to the administrator of general services with the director of personnel management to assist SSS individuals wishing to transfer to other positions in the Executive Branch.
If a person fails to register for the Draft. According to the government’s website, failure to register is considered a federal felony and can be punishable by fines or prison sentences. It can also make a person ineligible “for federal jobs, citizenship, or state-funded student financial aid.”
The bill addresses this issue both going forward and retroactively. It states a state, or a group of states, cannot deny a person who previously failed to register or submit for the Draft “a right, privilege, benefit, or employment position” based on those grounds.
“Failing to present oneself for and submit to registration under section 3 of the Military Selective Service Act (50 U.S.C. 3802), before the repeal of that Act by subsection (a), shall not be reason for any entity of the U.S. Government to determine that a person lacks good moral character or is unsuited for any privilege or benefit,” the bill states.
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