Lawmaker Pushes Draft

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May 1, 2004 - Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., is calling for a return of the military draft.

Those who are serving and dying today, he said, are the middle class and lower middle class. Re-instituting the draft, he contends, would spread the burden of military service among all economic classes of Americans and others living in America. Two companion bills were introduced in Congress last year that would re-instate conscription: S-89, by Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C.; and HR-163, by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. The bills would include both men and women in the draft. Hagel's call came just days after the Defense Department extended the deployments of some 20,000 troops in Iraq for 90 days.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on April 22, "I don't know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstitute the draft."