Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005
The Draft will Start in June 2005
There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and
HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at
early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The
administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the
public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed
immediately.
$28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget
to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005.
Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system,
which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation. Please see
website: http://www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the sss annual performance
plan - fiscal year 2004.
The pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft
board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.. Though this is
an unpopular election year topic, military experts and influential members
of congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard
slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice
but to draft.
Congress brought twin bills, S. 89 and HR 163 forward this year,
http://www.hslda.org/legislation/na...s89/default.asp entitled the Universal
National Service Act of 2003, "to provide for th e common defense by
requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women,
perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in
furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other
purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed
services.
Dodging the draft will be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era.
College and Canada will not be options. In December 2001, Canada and the
U.S. signed a "smart border declaration," which could be used to keep
would-be draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada's minister of foreign affairs,
John Manley, and U.S. Homeland Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration
involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a
"pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country.
Reforms aimed at making the draft more equitable along g ender and class
lines also eliminates higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen would
only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester.
Seniors would have until the end of the academic year.
Even those voters who currently support US actions abroad may still object
to this move, knowing their own children or grandchildren will not have a
say about whether to fight. Not that it should make a difference, but this
plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft.
The public has a right to air their opinions about such an important
decision.
Please send this on to all the friends, parents, aunts and uncles,
grandparents, and cousins that you know. Let your children know too -- it's
their future, and they can be a powerful voice for change!
Please also contact your representatives to ask them why they aren't telling
their constituents about these bills -- and contact newspapers and other
media outlets to ask them why they're not covering this important story.
Jillian N. Schneebeck
Grants Associate
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/South Dakota
1965 Ford Parkway
St. Paul, Minnesota 55116
Phone: 651-696-5652
Fax: 651-696-5543
[email protected]
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Posted - 06/01/2004 
Pending Draft Legislation
