Dana Rohrabacher: “I know it is a bit confusing when we hear a strong letter of support for draft registration coming from President…”

“I know it is a bit confusing when we hear a strong letter of support for draft registration coming from President Clinton and we hear quotes from President Reagan opposing the peacetime draft, but that is the state of the world. The world has changed. The cold war is over, the old rules no longer apply. First let us state, our defenses do not depend on a draft in order to raise the military. Our defenses in the future will depend on highly qualified military personnel backed up by the best equipment and technology and also backed up by a strong reserve, not backed up in a peacetime by a draft. Mr. Chairman, the peacetime draft is and always has been, as Ronald Reagan stated and will state again, is inconsistent with our national tradition. Draft registration today is a useless vestige of a rejected and obsolete means of manning our military. It is based on one concept alone and, that is, we cannot get our mind off conflicts of 20 years ago. Mr. Chairman, draft registration is a waste of limited funds. We should be spending this money to bolster the reserves and to make sure our people are equipped with the right kind of technology to back them up in the fights they are going to have. Vote for the Dellums amendment and against draft registration, this waste of our money.”