Mitch McConnell’s support makes it increasingly likely the Senate will vote soon to open the draft to women as part of a larger defense policy bill. | AP Photo Women's draft bid gains in Senate, stalls in House

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he supports requiring women to register for the military draft — a surprise announcement that breaks with House GOP leaders who’ve made clear they want to avoid an election-year vote on the politically sensitive issue.

McConnell’s support makes it increasingly likely the Senate will vote soon to open the draft to women as part of a larger defense policy bill — despite opposition from conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has said he “cannot in good conscience vote to draft our daughters into the military.”


The House, though, will not follow suit. This means the ultimate decision could come in House-Senate conference negotiations later this year to craft a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual measure that sets defense policy.

“Given where we are today with women in the military performing all kinds of functions, I personally think it would be appropriate for them to register just like men do,” McConnell told reporters. “We’re talking here about registration for the Selective Service should we ever go back to the draft.”

The Kentucky Republican’s announcement is a stunning move that goes beyond the ambitions of even a president who came into office determined to put a progressive stamp on the Pentagon.

Over the past seven years, President Barack Obama has pressed to allow gays to serve openly, end a ban on transgender troops and open all combat jobs to women. But he never asked for women to be required to register for the draft.

How a GOP-controlled Congress ended up giving serious consideration to this issue is an improbable story that began last month with an amendment put forward sarcastically by a lawmaker opposed to drafting women.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Marine combat veteran who’s criticized the administration’s decision to open combat jobs to women, proposed what one Democratic lawmaker labeled a “gotcha” amendment during the House Armed Services Committee’s markup of this year’s NDAA.

The California congressman, who voted against his own amendment, appears to have been trying to show there was little support among lawmakers for including women in the draft. But his move had the opposite effect: The amendment passed, 32-30, picking up the support of six Republicans.

Hunter, who insists his only goal was to start a debate, became the butt of jokes on late-night talk shows. But for House Republican leaders, the movement Hunter never intended to start was no laughing matter. On Monday, House leaders scrambled behind the scenes to block Hunter’s provision as it became increasingly clear it had a realistic shot of surviving planned floor votes to repeal it.

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions used a rare procedural maneuver Monday night to strip Hunter’s provision from the underlying bill without a standalone vote. The Texas Republican said in a statement his move “ensures a reckless policy is not put forward without the proper information and oversight to make an informed decision."

But House leaders were powerless to stop the Senate from moving on its own to advance a provision to open the draft to women. In another surprise move, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain came out in support of requiring women to register for the draft, including a provision to do so in the Senate version of the defense policy bill.

And the Arizona Republican made clear Tuesday he expects the full Senate will vote on the issue. “I’m sure there will be an amendment and a vote,” McCain told reporters.

In an earlier statement, the former naval aviator, who has long been an influential voice on military policy issues, said he supports “the recommendation of the Army chief of staff and the commandant of the Marine Corps that women should register for Selective Service.”

He also noted that women senators on his panel supported a gender-neutral draft, including Republicans Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Joni Ernst of Iowa and Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

For her part, McCaskill said Tuesday she was disappointed in the House move to scuttle a vote on the issue.

“I don’t get the magic of the majority in the House of Representatives and how they do things in the dark of night and somehow it’s the people’s work,” she said. “To me, they need to put it on the floor and vote on it if they want to strip it out. Let’s put everybody on the record.”

Despite their efforts to avoid a vote, House GOP leaders could find their hands tied by one major external factor that’s working against them. If lawmakers delay action on the issue, they could end up being preempted by the judicial branch — a fact that a House Armed Services aide acknowledged.

“The courts could act at any moment and send this in a direction that Congress doesn’t like,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

There are now at least two court cases dealing with the issue, according to a Congressional Research Services analysis. The National Coalition for Men, which seeks to end what it considers discrimination against men, is suing in federal court, arguing that a male-only draft is discriminatory, as The Washington Post reported in December. And a teenager in New Jersey has also filed a federal suit arguing that she has been unjustly prohibited from registering for the draft, as the Courthouse News Service has documented.

Lawmakers and Pentagon officials are following these lawsuits closely. In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled that a male-only draft was constitutional — but its argument was based on the fact that women were not eligible to serve in certain combat roles, according to CRS. The Obama administration’s decision to open all combat jobs to women could undercut that line of reasoning.

Selective Service spokesman Dick Flahaven said his agency had no position on the matter and would carry out to whatever “we’re directed to do.” He added that Selective Service had responded to a congressional request for information about the cost of requiring women to register.

The Selective Service’s annual budget of $23 million would have to be increased by $8.6 million in the first year, Flahaven said, but those costs would drop as the number of women registering each year leveled off. An additional 39 employees would be needed to process the increase in draft registrations, he added.

The Selective Service addresses the issue on its website, saying that “while there has been talk recently about women in combat, there has been NO decision to require females to register with Selective Service, or be subject to a future military draft. Selective Service continues to register only men, ages 18 through 25.”

In February, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the decision of whether or not to require women to register should be made by Congress. “It stands to reason that Congress is going to have to think this through and would have to change the law accordingly,” he told reporters. “I expect them to take this up.”

The United States has not had a draft since 1973, the beginning of today’s all-volunteer force. But men are still required to register with the Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthdays — so that they could be called to service in the unlikely event of a major war that required a draft. Men who fail to register face prison time, fines and are ineligible for certain federal benefits such as student aid, according to CRS.

For his part, Hunter dismissed the notion that his amendment has backfired. While he opposes requiring women to register, he said he has succeeded in sparking a discussion.

“I'm taking something that I think should be talked about more by people and just trying to put it out there,” the congressman told POLITICO. “Let the chips fall where they may. That's our job.”

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.