Issue 43: September 2016
Now that the last weekend of summer is here, it's time to re-engage in major battles that are critical to the future of our military. As you know, the Center for Military Readiness has been working hard to keep legislation to "Draft America's Daughters" out of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017.
We were successful in blocking it from the House version of the bill after a surprise vote in the House Armed Services Committee (HR 4909), but Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain insisted on putting the legislation into the Senate version of the NDAA without notice and behind closed doors. (SR 2814)
Within days, members of the House/Senate Conference Committee will hammer out a combined version of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Will you do what you can right now to make sure the defense bill does not include a mandate to Draft Our Daughters?
There is a plan to remove the offending language from the bill, but we need a storm of phone calls, letters, tweets, re-tweets, and maybe some Moms banging spoons on pans to persuade Chairman McCain and members of the Conference Committee that they must not pass legislation to Draft Our Daughters.
The articles embedded in the links above include lots of details and background on the issue, but to make it easy for you, your friends, family, and contacts to act, CMR has prepared this single-page, two-sided Summary that provides everything you need to know:
The Fact Sheet includes information on how the legislators voted and which ones have signed onto to a "Dear Colleague" letter being circulated by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE). As of now there are 17 signers, and all should be thanked. More will be needed, however, to persuade Sen. McCain to drop his harmful legislation to Draft Our Daughters from the defense bill. If it passes as is, irreparable harm would be done to military readiness as well as to young women.
There are many ways to contact members of the Senate and House, particularly Armed Services Committee members who will be involved in the House/Senate Conference to reconcile both versions of the NDAA:
- Call U.S. Capitol Switchboard to reach all offices: 202/224-3121
- Write your Senator, Senate Office Building: Washington, D.C. 20510
- Write your Congressman, House Office Building: Washington, D.C. 20515
- Send a message on his/her webpages for constituent messages. Congress.gov
- Use the very easy "Don't Draft Our Daughters" Twitter Action Page to tweet and retweet messages to senators marked "Yes" or "No" on Sasse letter.
- See PJNet.com Live Mark Prasec interview with Elaine Donnelly during a recent #DontDraftOurDaughters "tweet rally," which generated thousands of creative illustrated tweets.
Join Elaine Donnelly at the Values Voter Summit
CMR President, Elaine Donnelly, was pleased to accept the invitation of FRC President Tony Perkins, to speak at the Family Research Council's nationally-known and influential Values Voters Summit. The event will take place in Washington, D.C., next week, September 9-11, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. There is still time to register for this exciting event:
Elaine is looking forward to participating on a panel that will discuss The U.S. Military: Ready - Or Not? It will be during the September 9, Friday Afternoon Plenary Session, 2:00-5:00 PM, starting at about 3:00 PM.
The panel also will feature Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, USA (Ret.), together with Maj. Gen. Gary Harrell, USA (Ret.), and Rep. James Bridenstine (R-OK).
Please share this message and the one-page Fact Sheet with your friends, family, email contacts, Facebook Friends and Twitter groups using the hashtag #Don'tDraftOurDaughters.
Our chances of success on the Draft Our Daughters issue are good but everyone will have to do their part. More information is available on our webpage, www.cmrlink.org.
If you support CMR's work, please consider sending a generous, tax-deductible contribution. You can do that easily by clicking here.
We hope to see you next Friday at the Values Voter Summit. If you can't be there, check the Family Research Council website to see live streaming of the Friday afternoon session.
With thanks and best wishes,
-- CMR
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The Center for Military Readiness, founded in 1993, is an independent, non-partisan, 501(c)(3) public policy organization that reports on and analyzes military/social issues. Nothing in this article should be construed as an endorsement of any candidate. More information on all issues discussed is available on the CMR website, www.cmrlink.org
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