Requiring women to sign up for the draft would save more than $50 million over 10 years, according to a Congressional Budget Office score released this week.
Under current law, all men between the ages of 18 and 26 must register with the Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday. Not doing so can result in a number of penalties, including not being able to get a job with the federal government and not being eligible for federal student loans, including Pell grants.
Based on the number of men who do not register with the draft and the number of women applying for federal student aid, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the number of students no longer eligible for Pell grants would grow from about 3,000 in fiscal 2018-2019 to more than 11,000 by fiscal 2026-2027.
“Because individuals who have not met their obligation to register with the Selective Service are prohibited from receiving federal student aid, CBO projects that enacting the bill would reduce eligibility for Pell grants,” the score says.
It would save about $7 million in discretionary spending through 2018, which is when the authorization for Pell grants expires, and $45 million in mandatory spending over the 10-year window. It would also save about $5 million in mandatory spending for other student loans.
The score also said that female lawful permanent residents who didn’t register for the draft if it was required could face delayed naturalization, as well as the loss of other federal benefits and the ability to sponsor relatives to come to the U.S. Because of a lack of data, however, CBO was not able to estimate how much money this would save.
The savings in student loans would offset increased costs to hire and train additional personnel and publicize the new requirement to make women aware they must register. The budget score estimates that those increases would cost an additional $33 million between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2021.
Lawrence Romo, the director of the Selective Service, said this year that he would likely need to hire about 40 more full-time employees to implement the change and get women registered, as well as about $8.5 million the first year and $6.5 million the second year of the change for publicity and marketing.
The House Armed Services Committee voted 32-30 last month to approve an amendment to the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that would require all 18- to 26-year-old women to register for the draft.
The full House will consider the bill next week, where the issue is expected to get much more debate. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, has already introduced an amendment to strip out the language. The original amendment was introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who voted against it.
The Senate Armed Services Committee finished marking up its version of the defense policy bill on Thursday, but the committee has not yet released any details on the plan, including whether it speaks to drafting women. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., previously said he was leaning toward supporting the proposal.
Top uniformed officials of the Army and Marine Corps told the committee, which McCain chairs, that they supported women signing up for the Selective Service now that the ban on women serving in combat has been lifted.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, included a provision in his bill that would require the Pentagon to conduct a report on whether the draft is still needed given that the military has operated with an all-volunteer force for four decades.
Richard Flahavan, a spokesman for the Selective Service, said the program has cost about $22.9 million per year in both fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2015. Prior to that, the five-year average was $23.8 million per year.
A Government Accountability Office report from 2012 estimated that it would cost about $6.5 million to shut down the system entirely.
Flahavan said shutdown expenses today are likely closer to $7.3 million because of higher salaries, contract termination costs, and increased costs of severance pay.
