An ill-considered and unworkable proposal by the Selective Service System to try to "automatically" register all men ages 18-26 for a possible future military draft has been removed from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025.
The proposal for "automatic" draft registration was included in both the House and Senate versions of this year's NDAA -- without hearings, budget review, or debate -- but was removed during closed-door House-Senate conference negotiations.
A proposal to expand Selective Service to young women as well as young men, which was included in the Senate version of the NDAA but not in the House version, was also removed by the House-Senate conference.
The conference proposal for the FY 2025 NDAA has yet to be considered by either the House or Senate, although it is likely to be one of the highest priorities for the brief "lame-duck" sitting before the end of this session of Congress. The conference proposal could, in theory, be amended during floor consideration in either or both chambers. In practice, however, members of Congress probably have higher priorities for last-minute compromises on the NDAA. The proposals for expansion and attempted automation of draft registration are unlikely to be reinstated in this year's NDAA before it is enacted.
This doesn't mean that Congress has put a stake through the heart of either of these proposals. That would happen only if Congress ended Selective Service registration entirely. The latest version of the Selective Service Repeal Act, S. 4881 in the 188th Congress, never made it out of committee and seems destined to die at the end of this session. Urge your U.S. Representative and Senators to reintroduce it in the new Congress!