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For Immediate Release:
October 14, 2004

Draft not on tap

by Senator Larry Craig

Over the past several years, a slow, but steady trickle of mail arrived in my office in Washington, D.C., concerning involuntary military service, also known as "the draft." As always, I do my best to answer these letters with my views on the issue and the best facts available to me. Every letter expressed my conviction that a reinstatement of the draft is not necessary, nor is it imminent.

However, the rumors continue to crop up in the mail, in the news, and on the Internet about Presidential or Republican conspiracies to secretly reinstate the draft, despite the lack of public support for such an act. So I have decided to take a different approach to getting the word out, which is the purpose of this column today.

First, let me take a step back and outline a few important facts that everyone ought to know about the draft. Legal analysts with the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research body in the Library of Congress, clearly state that legal authority for the involuntary induction of men into the Armed Forces expired more than 30 years ago, on July 1, 1973. During that period, no serious efforts have been made to revive the draft.

That leads me to my next point, which is very important to debunking the conspiracy theorists out there. If the draft is ever to be renewed, it must be done by an act of Congress, and cannot be established at the whim of the President (even the President's emergency powers are subject to legislative or judicial limitation). A member of Congress must introduce a bill to reinstate the draft, and that bill must go through the regular, sometimes long, legislative process, being reviewed by other members, committees and both houses of Congress before finally going to the President for signature. Every step presents an obstacle that requires significant support to overcome. Bills on issues like this don't just enter through the side door and slip past unnoticed.

In fact, the House of Representatives, in a decisive statement to the American public regarding the draft, just recently voted on a bill that sought to reinstate the draft. The defeat was quite convincing: 402-2. There is a companion bill in the Senate, but Senate leadership has already stated it has no intention of bringing it to the full Senate for a vote. Both bills, it's worth noting, were authored by Democrats who would be more likely to jump off a bridge than cooperate with President Bush if he actually were trying some underhanded scheme.

He isn't, however. During the second Presidential Debate, the President stated clearly before the public that he does not support a draft, nor does any member of his administration, including the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. However, even if he did, the vote I mentioned in the previous paragraph undoubtedly demonstrates Congress' opposition to the idea. There simply is nothing credible in any rumors to the contrary.

Our all-volunteer military is the best in the world. Our men and women make up the most effective fighting force ever seen because they have chosen to be there and are well-motivated. As the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Could conditions change in the future and cause the draft to be resurrected some time down the road? It would be irresponsible to say "never." But under the current conditions, even with the current demands placed on our armed services, I am firmly convinced that we have the manpower to be successful, wherever our forces are.

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