A conservative military watchdog believes a Republican congressman made a big mistake in introducing a bill making women eligible for selective service.

Just a few months after the Defense Department lifted all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units, the House Armed Services Committee approved a measure last week requiring women (ages 18-26) to register for the military draft.

The “Draft America’s Daughters Act” passed 32-30 despite the fact that the sponsor of the bill – Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-California) – voted against it, just as he said he might when he introduced it in early February. Hunter explained that he offered the measure (H.R. 4478) to trigger a discussion about how the Pentagon’s decision in December to rescind gender restrictions on military service failed to consider whether the exclusion on drafting women also should be lifted.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, argues that Hunter’s strategy is like playing Russian roulette.

Donnelly

“In essence that’s what this vote is,” she tells OneNewsNow. “We predicted that if this measure were offered on the floor, it would pass because of a combination of misinformation and Democrats who gleefully support this sort of thing because they are not pro-women. They really don’t care about the consequences for our military.

“And it passed narrowly, unfortunately, over the objections of the chairman of the [House] Armed Services Committee.”

And it’s unfortunate, Donnelly adds, that the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee supports drafting women.

“Senator John McCain agreed saying, yes, this is the consequence of having women in combat. So who is going to oppose this measure? If it passes in the House, then it will become law – and the president will sign it … and the Supreme Court will uphold it. That’s the way our Congress works.”

The approved Draft America’s Daughters Act was added as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017 (H.R. 4909) – which passed out of the House Armed Services Committee last Thursday on a 60-2 vote.