Question and Amending Blunder re Women in the Draft

Hello All!

First, a question from the reading. The chapter on Irregular Order explains, "Amendments will be voted on in the reverse order that they were proposed; this allows for all second-degree modifications to an amendment to be considered before the first-degree base amendment is voted on." (Straus, 220). Why is that? Am I missing something, or does that seem illogical?

Second, a fun little piece about Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA). During the National Defense Authorization Act Markup (in the House Armed Services Committee) last spring, Rep. Duncan proposed a "gotcha" amendment to require women to register for the draft. He meant to point at the ridiculousness of such a proposal and damage Democrats in the committee. Unfortunately, he forgot to withdraw the amendment before it went to vote. (See Straus, 220: "Even after an amendment has been proposed and debated, the amendment's sponsor may withdraw the amendment, as long as there has been no action taken on that amendment") It actually passed through the committee. Rep. Thornberry, the chair of the committee, had to do some serious behind the scenes work to make it go away later.

Article Here: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/the-unlikely-birth-and-unseemly-death-of-an-amendment-to-draft-americas-women/483599/

C-SPAN Video Here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4591105/rep-duncan-hunter-amendment-requiring-women-register-military-draft