“Congress set aside unnecessary culture wars and focused on equipping our servicemen and women with the tools they need to win the wars we’re in.”

U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, who successfully led the effort to stop Congress from needlessly mingling culture wars and national security by requiring women to register for the draft, applauded passage of the final 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. 

“I’m encouraged that Congress set aside unnecessary culture wars and focused on equipping our servicemen and women with the tools they need to win the wars we’re in," said Sasse. “The debate about drafting our mothers, sisters, and daughters was completely unnecessary and antiquated - unnecessary because none of our top military leaders say we need to abandon our all-volunteer force and antiquated because we don’t fight wars of attrition that require the draft. This was a victory for common sense.”

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.

Today, Congress passed legislation that does not require women to register for the draft and, instead, requires a study on the draft, similar to an amendment Sasse offered in June.

The "Draft Our Daughters" debate was completely unnecessary. #NDAA is a victory for common sense. https://t.co/p3AFDsCaqO pic.twitter.com/qQW42Wi5oe

— Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) December 8, 2016