A majority on the Senate Armed Services Committee backed the change in a markup over the summer. One group of Republicans now is renewing an effort to block it as the Senate considers amendments before a final vote, but it’s not clear they have the numbers to stop it.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said for years the draft also should apply to women…

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told Axios that “so much of the trajectory for women in the armed services is based on what experience they’re able to accrue, particularly combat experience,” and that along with that “it makes sense to that me that everyone should be eligible for Selective Service.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, said: “We are now competing in the space of combat arms, and I think it’s important that we all serve to the best of our capacity.”