GOP blocks provision to require women to register for draft

WASHINGTON — Buckling under conservative pressure, the Republican-led House Rules Committee pulled a legislative sleight of hand and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required women between the ages of 18 and 25 to sign up for a military draft.

“I have the utmost respect and deepest appreciation for the young women who bravely volunteer to serve our country, but I am adamantly opposed to coercing America’s daughters to sign up for the Selective Service at 18 years of age,” Sessions said.

A Senate bill does include a version of the provision, so the congressional debate over whether women should register isn’t over.

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, criticized the committee move, casting it as an attempt by Republicans to avoid subjecting “their members to a vote on equality for women, and they ought to.”