www.thehill.com/news/100604/rangel.aspx
Fi rst he protested when Republican leadership scheduled his own bill for a vote. Then he sent out a letter encouraging his Democratic colleagues to vote a gainst it. Rangels bill, which the leadership had placed on the suspension calendar , would create a national-service draft under which all 18- to 26-year-o lds would serve in the military or perform two years of national service as determined by the president. Rangel has been advocating a draft for several years, but he argued yesterday that the bill was too important f or the suspension calendar, which is reserved for non-controversial ite ms, he said in a statement. Bills on the suspension calendar cannot be amended on the floor and requi re two-thirds of the House to clear the chamber. Rangel accused Republicans of using his bill to assuage fears that Presid ent Bush had plans to reinstate the draft, stating, The Republican lead ership decision to place the draft legislation on the suspension Calenda r is a political maneuver to kill rumors of the Presidents intention to reinstate the draft after the November election. He went on to urge Democrats running for reelection to vote no. I am voting no, because my bill deserves serious consideration, his sta tement continued. It should be subject to hearings and to expert testimony. The administra tion should come and tell us about our manpower needs, about recruitment and retention, about the extent to which out troops are overextended. A nd they should give us their views about shared sacrifice. If they did a ll of those things in a serious way, they would have to admit that my bi ll is an option. Democrats said Republican leaders gave them no notice that the Rangel bil l was headed to the floor.
|
http://csua.com/feed/