II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1134

To express the sense of Congress on women in combat. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 26, 2005

Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. 

REED, and Ms. MIKULSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL

To express the sense of Congress on women in combat.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON WOMEN IN COMBAT. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) Women have a prominent role in American 

7 military history, with involvement as far back as the 

8 American Revolution (1775–1783) when women 

9 served on the battlefield as nurses, water bearers, 

10 cooks, laundresses, and saboteurs. 
2

•S 1134 IS 

1 (2) Opportunities for servicewomen have in2 creased dramatically since 1948, when the Women’s 

3 Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 (62 Stat. 

4 356) gave women a permanent place in the Armed 

5 Forces. 

6 (3) The Department of Defense began to ex7 pand its programs on women in the Armed Forces 

8 in earnest in fiscal year 1973. 

9 (4) From 1973 to 2005, the number of women 

10 as a percentage of the total force of the Armed 

11 Forces increased from only 2.5 percent to approxi12 mately 17 percent, with more than 200,000 women 

13 currently serving in the Armed Forces. 

14 (5) The admission of women to the service 

15 academies began in Autumn 1976 and has increased 

16 steadily so that women currently comprise approxi17 mately 16 to 19 percent of the incoming class each 

18 year at the service academies. 

19 (6) The current policy governing the assign20 ment of women in the military is set forth in a 

21 memorandum of Secretary of Defense Les Aspin, 

22 dated January 13, 1994, that excludes women from 

23 assignment to units below brigade level whose pri24 mary mission is to engage in direct combat on the 

25 ground. This memorandum also authorizes the 
3

•S 1134 IS 

1 Armed Forces to restrict the assignment of 

2 women—

3 (A) where the Secretary of the military de4 partment concerned attests that the costs of ap5 propriate berthing and privacy arrangements 

6 are prohibitive; 

7 (B) where units and positions are doc8 trinally required to physically collocate and re9 main with direct ground combat units that are 

10 closed to women; 

11 (C) where units are engaged in long range 

12 reconnaissance operations and Special Oper13 ations Forces missions; and 

14 (D) where job-related physical require15 ments would necessarily exclude the vast major16 ity of women service members. 

17 (7) Section 542 of the National Defense Au18 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994 (10 U.S.C. 113 

19 note) requires the Secretary of Defense—

20 (A) to provide 30 days notice to Congress 

21 of any proposed change to military personnel 

22 policies that would open additional assignments 

23 to women; and 
4

•S 1134 IS 

1 (B) to provide 90 days notice to Congress 

2 of any proposed change to the ground combat 

3 exclusion policy. 

4 (8) More than 100,000 women have been de5 ployed by the Armed Forces in support of military 

6 operations since September 11, 2001. 

7 (9) Approximately 22,000 women are currently 

8 serving the Armed Forces honorably in support of 

9 Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring 

10 Freedom. 

11 (10) The Armed Forces, and especially the 

12 Army, are struggling to meet recruiting and reten13 tion goals. 

14 (11) Any change in policy that would further 

15 restrict the assignment of women to units or posi16 tions would place additional strain on the Armed 

17 Forces and their units, and would be detrimental to 

18 the morale of members of the units. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con20 gress that—

21 (1) women play a critical role in the accom22 plishment of the mission of the Armed Forces; and 

23 (2) there should be no change to existing stat24 utes, regulations, or policy that would have the ef-
5

•S 1134 IS 

1 fect of decreasing the roles or positions available to 

2 women in the Armed Forces.

Æ