WASHINGTON (AP) — Buckling under conservative pressure, House Republicans pulled a legislative sleight of hand Tuesday and stripped a provision from the annual defense policy bill that would have required young women to sign up for a military draft.
The decision triggered an outcry from Democrats, who cast the move as a GOP attempt to avoid a contentious vote on equality for women.
The Obama administration has said it would veto the House defense policy bill because it shifts $18 billion in wartime spending to pay for weapons and troops the Pentagon didn't request.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a speech that the "raid on war funding ... risks stability and gambles with war funding, jeopardizes readiness."
After the military services were ordered to integrate women into combat jobs, the top uniformed officers in each of the military branches expressed support during congressional testimony for including women in a potential draft.
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted last week to include a draft registration requirement for women in its version of the annual defense policy bill.
