[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 116 (Friday, September 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1667-E1668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE MILITARY SELECTIVE SERVICE REPEAL ACT

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                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 5, 1997

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Military 
Selective Service Repeal Act, to repeal in its entirety what I believe 
to be a wasteful cold war relic that should be extinct.
  From 1948 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, 
men were drafted to fill vacancies in the Armed Forces which could not 
be filled through voluntary means. Suspended in April 1975, it was 
resumed in 1980 by President Carter in response to the Soviet invasion 
of Afghanistan. However, as any American knows, the conditions for the 
draft have changed since the days of Vietnam and the threat of Soviet 
invasion. Still, registration continues as a supposed hedge against 
underestimating the number of servicemen needed in a future conflict.
  The Department of Defense has concluded that we live in a time that 
projects no war--not even the worst case scenario of two simultaneous 
regional conflicts--that would require drafting combat troop 
replacements. Suspension of peacetime registration could be 
accomplished with little risk to national security, considering the low 
probability of the need for conscription. The fact is that peacetime 
draft registration could be suspended with no effect on military 
mobilization requirements, little effect on the time it would take to 
mobilize, and no measurable effect on military recruitment,

[[Page E1668]]

according to the Secretary of Defense in his 1993 report to the 
President and Congress.
  In addition, ample alternatives to peacetime draft registration are 
already in place. The Selective Service System maintains an on-the-
shelf system which would provide for a post-mobilization registration 
of up to 3.5 million health care personnel in more than 60 specialties. 
The Pentagon reports that mass registration would occur in 13 days 
after notice to mobilize, with induction orders to follow 3 weeks 
later. Likewise, we have stockpiled our Armed Forces, so that over 1 
million trained Selected Reserve units and another 750,000 individual 
Ready Reserve personnel exist to augment Active Forces during the early 
days of a major conflict. Clearly, Mr. Speaker, we've no shortfall of 
resources.
  More importantly, the draft registration fails to provide legal 
relief measures to conscientious objectors who cannot register, thus 
violating our freedom of religion. For 17 years now, youth have been 
required to register for a military draft that does not exist. The 
penalties for nonregistration, such as the denial of admission to 
colleges and universities and disqualification for student loans and 
grants, are an unjustifiable limitation on the civil rights of our 
youth.
  If that's not enough to convince my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, they 
should consider the bottom line. Peacetime draft registration has cost 
taxpayers over $400 million since its reinstitution in 1980. According 
to present budget estimates, Selective Service registration will cost 
an additional $75 million by the year 2000. As we rest on the laurels 
of what many consider to be a successful budget deal, let's remember 
the children and legal immigrants we've deserted to allow the Selective 
Service System to continue.
  Finally, the real impetus for terminating draft registration comes 
from the Selective Service System itself. A scathing evaluation was 
recently released by the U.S. Army Force Integration and Support Agency 
[USAFISA] documenting severe problems of waste and mismanagement within 
the Selective Service System. The problems discovered--a grossly 
overpaid staff and duplication of services--revealed the Selective 
Service System to be a bloated, inept Federal bureaucracy.
  Current registrants and volunteers are abundant and stand ready to 
defend our country should the need arise. The time has come to do away 
with our outdated and unnecessary system. Clearly, if there is no need 
for draftees, there is no need for a Federal agency to conscript them--
and certainly not one that costs over $23 million a year.

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