House Republicans Demand GOP Leadership Remove NDAA Female Draft Language

Two dozen House Republicans are firing a warning shot at GOP leadership: remove the provision to “draft our daughters” from the 2025 NDAA — or else.

Led by Republicans Chip Roy of Texas and Mary Miller of Illinois, the cohort of Republicans sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday addressing the passage of H.R. 8070, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The NDAA’s executive summary explicitly notes that it “amends the Military Selective Service Act to require the registration of women for Selective Service.”

“[W]e write today in opposition to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s heinous decision to advance an NDAA that includes a provision to draft our daughters,” the Republicans wrote. “Instead of solely focusing on advancing our national security objectives, the Senate Armed Service Committee once again chose behind closed doors to report an NDAA that amends the Military Selective Service Act to register women with the selective service.”

Should they all vote against the NDAA, the bill would pass with more Democrats than Republicans voting in support.

“Forcing young women to register for the selective service is an affront to our nation’s values and does not enhance military readiness – the only metric by which Congress should measure an NDAA. This is yet another blatant attempt to advance a divisive agenda that seeks to eliminate all distinctions between males and females,” they added.

The Republicans emphasized that the GOP should not be complicit in drafting American women.

UNITED STATES – AUGUST 23: Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, speaks during a House Freedom Caucus news conference on infrastructure, Afghanistan, and other issues, outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday, August 23, 2021. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“Under no circumstances should the House of Representatives greenlight a future that cripples the American family by sending mothers and daughters to the frontlines – drafted to be combat replacements for casualties on the battlefield – while fathers and sons stay home. A country that pursues radical social ideology over basic principles will not remain a strong, resilient nation,” they wrote.

The letter calls on Johnson to “unequivocally oppose any effort to draft our daughters,” noting that the effort has been defeated in the past and “must be defeated again.”

“The reality is, if we are a country that actively chooses to forcibly conscript our daughters, we are past the point of rescue,” they concluded.

The 24 Republicans are Roy, Miller, Bob Good of Virginia, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Bill Posey of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Brian Babin of Texas, Eric Burlison of Missouri, Barry Moore of Alabama, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Michael Cloud of Texas, Alex Mooney of Maryland, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, Mark Green of Tennessee, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Ben Cline of Virginia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Robert Aderholt of Alabama, and Keith Self of Texas.

Under Section 598A, “Selective Service System Automatic Registration,” the bill says: “Except as otherwise provided in this Act, every citizen of the United States, and every other person residing in the United States between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six shall be automatically registered by the Selective Service System.”

Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.

Read the full letter here.