“Instead of developing a strategy to win the wars we’re in, the outgoing Administration is focused on scoring points in their culture wars.”

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ben Sasse responded to the White House’s announced support for requiring women to register for the draft, urging President Obama not to complicate the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act over unnecessary culture wars. 

“This would be a sadly fitting end to eight years of foreign policy failures: Instead of developing a strategy to win the wars we’re in, the outgoing Administration is focused on scoring points in their culture wars. It would be wrong and so completely unnecessary to let this new position interfere with the defense bill Congress is about to pass.”

Background:

In September, Sasse led a group of 17 Senators in demanding that negotiators keep this unnecessary culture war out of the defense bill. Text of that letter is available here. 

The final 2017 National Defense Authorization Act does not require women to register for the draft and instead calls for studying the necessity of the draft itself, a provision similar to an amendment offered by Sasse in June.