16/04.2021 / Edward Hasbrouck / Antiwar.com - The Selective Service Repeal Act of 2021 (H.R. 2509 and S. 1139) was introduced in Congress on April 14th 2021 with bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
Initial co-sponsors of the bill to end draft registration and abolish the Selective Service System are Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
"No young person, regardless of gender, should be subject to a military draft or be forced to register for a draft in the United States. The military draft registration system is an unnecessary, wasteful bureaucracy which unconstitutionally violates Americans’ civil liberties. We should be abolishing military draft registration altogether, not expanding it," said Rep. DeFazio.
"If a war is worth fighting, Congress will vote to declare it and people will volunteer," said Sen. Paul.
Other cosponsors of the bill include Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). Residents of the District of Colombia, Puerto Rico, and other U.S. territories are subject to the military draft, but have no voting representation in Congress, only nonvoting "Delegates" to the House of Representatives.