In his 1945 State of the Union address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt requested that the draft be expanded to include female nurses (male nurses were not then allowed), to overcome a shortage that was endangering military medical care. This began a debate over the drafting of all women, which was defeated in the House of Representatives. A bill to draft nurses was passed by the House, but died without a vote in the Senate. The publicity caused more nurses to volunteer, agencies streamlined recruiting.