Selective Service Wastes Taxpayer Money, Should Be Abolished – Draft Unlikely To Ever Be Instituted: Sen. Rand Paul

Dr. Paul, Sens. Wyden, Lummis Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Abolish the Selective Service

Editor’s note: According to Wikipedia: “The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains a database of registered male U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft). Although the U.S. military is currently an all-volunteer force, registration is still required for contingency planning and preparation for two types of draft: a general draft based on registration lists of males aged 18–25, and a special-skills draft based on professional licensing lists of workers in specified health care occupations. In the event of either type of draft, the Selective Service System would send out induction notices, adjudicate claims for deferments or exemptions, and assign draftees classified as conscientious objectors to alternative service work.^[2] All male U.S. citizens and immigrant non-citizens who are between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of their 18th birthdays,^[3][4][5] and must notify the Selective Service within ten days of any changes to any of the information they provided on their registration cards, such as a change of address.^[6] The Selective Service System is a contingency mechanism for the possibility that conscription becomes necessary.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), introduced a bipartisan bill to end the Selective Service.

The Selective Service runs an annual budget of more than $31 million, preparing for a draft that has not occurred since 1973.

“It has been over 50 years since the draft was last used,” said Dr. Paul. “I’ve long stated that if a war is worth fighting, Congress will vote to declare it and people will volunteer. This outdated government program no longer serves a purpose and should be eliminated permanently.”

“The Selective Service is a long-outdated program that eats up millions of taxpayer dollars and gives us nothing in return,” said Wyden. “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.”

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 Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft.

The text of the bill is HERE.

Banner Image: Aircraft carrier. Image Credit – Michael Afonso