House Freedom Caucus calls on GOP to oppose Defense Authorization Act over female draft

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The conservative House Freedom Caucus urged Republicans on Tuesday to oppose the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) because of an amendment in the bill that requires women to register for the draft.

"President Biden and his Administration must be held accountable for the devastating failures during the withdrawal of Afghanistan," the caucus said in a statement. "The National Defense Authorization Act should focus on providing our service members the necessary resources to protect Americans and our country.

"Unfortunately, this Administration's political posturing puts priorities like funding critical race theory for our service members and forcing our daughters to sign up for the draft ahead of ensuring our military has the resources to put the safety and security of America first," the statement added.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the Freedom Caucus who has been an outspoken critic of the amendment, told Fox News, "I want to be 100% clear: Any Republican who votes for this NDAA is voting to force our daughters to register for the draft."

GOP BACKS DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT THAT REQUIRES WOMEN TO REGISTER FOR DRAFT

A House panel voted 35-24 on Sept. 1 to approve an amendment to the NDAA introduced by Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., that would effectively require women ages 18-25 to register for the Selective Service System. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted similarly in July to expand any potential draft to women.

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The House Republican Conference on Monday expressed support for the NDAA, which would allow for women to be covered by the draft by striking out masculine pronouns and replace words such as "male citizen" and "male person" with simply with "citizen" and "person," according to Section 513 of the bill

The United States has not instituted a draft since the Vietnam War.