Joe W.
>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
>Subject: [lbo-talk] draft crushed in House
>Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 21:44:58 -0400
>
>House Crushes Military Draft Bill
>By Vicki Allen
>
>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Tuesday crushed a
>bill to reinstitute the draft as Republicans accused Democrats of raising
>the specter of compulsory military service to turn voters against President
>Bush (news - web sites)'s reelection bid.
>
>After a bitter debate on Bush's handling of Iraq (news - web sites), the
>House killed the bill 402-2 as Republicans sought to stamp out rumors of an
>impending draft that have swept college campuses and the Internet, worrying
>young people and parents across the country.
>
>With the presidential and congressional elections less than a month away,
>the White House also worked to dampen draft rumors that Republicans said
>have been fueled by Democrats. It threatened to veto the bill it called
>"both unnecessary and counterproductive."
>
>"This campaign is a baseless and malevolent concoction of the Democrat
>party," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican. "It has
>one purpose -- to spread fear."
>
>Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record), a Michigan Democrat,
>countered that Bush's Iraq policies have so strained U.S. forces, that a
>draft was possible no matter how unpopular it would be.
>
>"Guess what, we're running out of troops ... Let's not be astounded that
>what follows is a draft. The only problem is that you can't announce it
>until after the election," Conyers said."
>
>Rep. Charles Rangel (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat, said
>he offered a bill last winter to reinstitute the draft to spark debate on a
>system that he said placed the burden of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan
>(news - web sites) on lower-income people who make up most of the volunteer
>U.S. military.
>
>DeLay said Republicans pulled up the long-dormant bill "to expose a fraud"
>that he said "has been given voice by the leading Democrats" that Bush
>would move to reimpose the draft after the Nov. 2 election.
>
>In the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, called
>reinstituting the draft "a nonissue" and said it would not be addressed in
>that chamber.
>
>House Democrats accused Republicans of a dirty election-year trick, and
>used the debate to attack Bush's Iraq policies which they said have left
>the country in chaos and discouraged help from foreign troops.
>
>"This president's foreign policies are what's scaring the kids of this
>country," said Rep. Tim Ryan (news, bio, voting record), an Ohio Democrat.
>
>Some Democrats also said they doubted Bush would have taken the country to
>war if members of wealthy families had been called on to fight it.
>
>"He would never have been able to say bring 'em on with other people's
>children," Rangel said.
>
>"This is a rich man's war, and it's a poor man's fight," said Rep. John
>Dingell (news, bio, voting record), a Michigan Democrat. "We do not have
>enough troops in the field to prevail," he said, while accusing Republicans
>of ducking debate on how to get more forces.
>
>White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush has made it clear he
>"strongly supports the all-volunteer military," and "does not believe we
>need a military draft."
>
>"There are some who have tried to bring this up as a scare tactic, and that
>is highly unfortunate," McClellan said.
>
>Rep. Jim McDermott (news, bio, voting record), a Washington Democrat, said,
>"Every time they get up on television and say there's never going to be a
>draft ... people start calling our offices saying when's the draft going to
>start."
>
>McDermott said Republicans were worried because new voter registrations
>were going up "and they know those people are going to come out and vote
>against them. So they're trying their best to tamp down this fire, but they
>can't get anyone to believe them any more." (Additional reporting by Thomas
>Ferraro and Susan Cornwell)
>
>
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