Ronald Dellums: “I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon [Mr. DeFazio]. Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Chairman, we have just…”

“I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon [Mr. DeFazio]. Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Chairman, we have just heard draft registration described as cheap insurance against some future unnamed calamity. Well, there is a reason it is cheap. It does not insure anything, and it would not pay off if we ever needed it. In March, the Pentagon said they do not need peacetime draft registration; they do not want to use it; and they do not think it will have any impact on mobilization. That is what the military professionals said, not the politicians. They said peacetime registration can be suspended with no effect on military mobilization requirements, little effect on the time it would take to mobilize, and no measurable effect on military recruitment, a rare moment in our Nation's history. The Pentagon has identified and offered to eliminate an obsolete cold war program. Let us take advantage of that, colleagues. We have heard that this is insurance. How does it work? A year ago the Selective Service ran a drill to see if the system works. It did not. In its most recent checkup, Selective Service was found 4-F, unfit and unavailable, a 54-percent success rate. They blamed it on bad weather. This is a symbol of our Nation's resolve, an obsolete, moribund bureaucracy which has a 54-percent success rate because of bad weather? The fact is peacetime draft registration is unneeded. It does not work. It is a waste of money.…”