Washington, D.C. - - In a resounding defeat of a measure authored by New York Democrat Charles Rangel to reinstate the military draft, the U.S. House of Representatives today sent a strong message that the American people do not support a return to drafting young men and women into military service and that the Republican majority is vehemently opposed to any such proposal.
"As a member of the House Armed Services, I have always opposed the reinstatement of the draft and with the defeat of this politically motivated bill it is clear that there is no significant or real support for it anywhere," said Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO). "Today's voluntary military is the most professional, best equipped and thoroughly effective fighting force this nation or world has seen."
Although the Administration, Department of Defense and Selective Service System have not suggested the reinstatement of the draft, claims of the plan to reinstitute it have surfaced in recent weeks, reputedly animated by Democratic political operatives.
Congressman Todd Akin has been one of Congress's most vocal opponents of a renewed draft. In an editorial in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (January 11, 2003), Akin wrote, "In a representative democracy where personal liberty under law is essential, the notion of a draft implies that free citizens will not serve when their country calls. As a former Army officer, as the son and grandson of soldiers, and as the proud father of a Naval Academy midshipman, I reject that notion."
Congressman Akin's son Perry has since graduated the Naval Academy and is now a Marine officer who will soon join the war on terrorists in Iraq. Congressman Akin's third son Micah is currently in his second year at the Academy.
"We have had a committed and professional all volunteer military since 1973, which has served proudly and well. The resounding defeat of this Democrat proposal sets the record straight that Republicans do not support the draft," concluded Akin.
