On the recordJune 23, 2011
My colleagues, once again I come before this House to ask you to reconsider establishing the draft. I know some of you think politically this doesn't make sense. But after listening to the President last night, the only people that I saw that were making sacrifices in these wars that have been undeclared have been our troops. They have volunteered. They come from communities that most of them are not wealthy. But when they get there, they defend the flag. Every war, every time our Nation is threatened, all of the American people should be prepared to make some sacrifice. Those of us in Congress, when we authorize troops to go overseas, should not say that we have volunteers willing to do it. We should say that we have Americans; they come from our families, our communities, our States, and their wealth should not even be an issue. Everyone should be up at bat. {time} 1010 Now that the President has dramatically reduced the need for all of these volunteers, why don't we mandate that every American make some sacrifice. Let them be trained during this transition as we withdraw our troops. Let them be able to do something to make certain that America remains strong. This is too serious an issue. It's not a Democrat or Republican issue; it's a moral issue. Trillions of dollars are spent on undeclared wars, but who's paying for it? The poorest among us, the lesser among us--in health care, in education, in homelessness, in joblessness.…
