WASHINGTON, October 5, 2004 -- The Republican leadership decision to place the draft legislation on the Suspension Calendar is a political maneuver to kill rumors of the President's intention to reinstate the draft after the November election.

I am voting no, because my bill deserves serious consideration.  It should be subject to hearings and to expert testimony.  The Administration should come and tell us about our manpower needs, about recruitment and retention, about the extent to which out troops are overextended.  And they should give us their views about shared sacrifice.  If they did all of those things in a serious way, they would have to admit that my bill is an option.

But what we are seeing now is election-year politics.  They are using the Suspension Calendar, which is reserved for non-controversial items, to make a cynical political statement.  The American people are deeply concerned about this issue deserve more than this.  So do our troops, who after we leave here today, will still be on ground, and left with the message that we couldn't take the time to discuss their situation and what should be done to relieve them.

This is hypocrisy of the worst kind.  I would not encourage any Democrat running for reelection to vote for this bill.