WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. Congress has voted overwhelmingly to leave rules governing women in combat as they are, and not to impose further restrictions.
After two weeks of debate on the annual defense authorization bill, a Republican-led charge to further limit women's battlefield roll was shot down, and the bill that maintains the status quo was passed 390-39.
"In the history of this country there has never been a law limiting the assignment of women in the Army, and we will not do so now," Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., the only female military veteran in Congress, said on the House floor.
She later told the Washington Post: "We have men and women 6,000 miles from home doing a very dangerous job, and we should not do anything to indicate we do not appreciate their service."
Army leaders have said they are reviewing the role of women and that the issue was complex because battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan are "no longer linear."
