Fritz Hollings on a Bill to Reinstate the Draft

Also from that same Hill article cited just before:

Sometimes, you just have to draw the line and vote against yourself.

That’s what Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) says he’d do if the Senate were to vote on his bill, S. 89, to reinstate mandatory military service, after the House defeated a companion bill Tuesday.

“We introduced a draft bill in January 2003, when our nation’s defense needed more troops — and we still do,” Hollings said in a statement yesterday. “We were misled into Iraq, and now the commander in chief tells the troops they can’t win. You don’t draft young Americans for a mistake, particularly when they can’t win. Under these circumstances, I would vote against my own bill.”

But Hollings won’t have to make that choice. He’s retiring this year, and Senate leaders say they aren’t likely to vote on the politically sensitive measure before Congress adjourns.