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U.S. House votes to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

The Georgia Voice Editors
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a stand-alone repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy this afternoon. The House previously passed a measure to overturn the policy as part of a piece of defense legislation, but recent repeal stalls in the Senate prompted House leaders to revisit the issue.

The final vote total was 250 to 175.

Some 15 Republicans voted for repeal. Only five Republicans voted for repeal when the House took on the measure earlier in the year.

In the debate leading up to a final vote on the bill, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) made an impassioned plea on the House floor for passage.

House to vote on stand-alone DADT repeal

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House Nancy Polosi (D-Ca.), Reps. Steny Howyer (D-Md.) and Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) will introduce a stand-alone bill in the House to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, according to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The move comes after a similar announcement made last week by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.) of a stand-alone repeal measure in the Senate.

“We applaud  House Speaker Pelosi, Reps. Hoyer and Murphy for their extraordinary leadership in the waning hours of the lame-duck session,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in a press release issued this morning.

“Let’s be clear: we’ll still need 60 votes in the Senate,” Sarvis continued. “This ‘privileged’ House bill will need to pass the full House and then move to the Senate.  While we avoid a cloture vote to proceed and save time on the Senate floor, we’ll still need 60 votes to complete the bill and send it directly to the President’s desk.”

By the numbers: ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

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71

Percent of military service members who said allowing gays to serve openly would have no impact on military readiness.

57

Percent of military service members who said allowing gays to serve openly would have no impact on their morale.

54

Percent of military service members who said allowing gays to serve openly would have no impact on unit cohesion.

53

Percent of combat-deployed military service members who said allowing gays to serve openly would have no impact on effectiveness.

62

Percent of service members who said their military career plans would not change due to repeal.

DADT debate moves forward despite uncertain future

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Sen. John McCain, Adm. Mike Mullen and Def. Sec. Robert Gates at a recent Senate hearing on

The Pentagon released its highly anticipated report on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy Nov. 30 and just two days later, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a two-day hearing on the report’s findings.

The report found that as much as 70 percent of service members would consider allowing openly gay and lesbian soldiers to be “positive” or have “no impact” on morale and unit cohesion.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Gen. Carter Ham, who co-chaired the Pentagon’s Working Group on the report, testified on the first day of the hearing. All three said that Congress should act to repeal the policy during the current lame-duck session.

DADT update: Sens. Lieberman and Collins announce stand-alone repeal

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Late this afternoon, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.) announced a plan to bring a repeal of the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to the Senate for a full vote apart from the 2011 Defense Authorization Act.

“We are working with our colleagues and are confident that there are at least 60 Senators who support repeal,” Lieberman Tweeted this afternoon.

According to Lieberman’s Twitter page, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will issue a “Rule 14” on the measure, which will allow the bill to bypass The Senate Armed Services Committee and come directly to the floor for a vote.

U.S. Senate again fails to move Defense Authorization Act, vote stalls ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal

The Georgia Voice Editors
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The U.S. Senate today failed to move forward on the 2011 Defense Authorization Act, which included repeal language for the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, after supporters of the bill were unable to get the necessary 60 votes to avoid a Republican filibuster.

Republicans blocked the cloture vote over objections to the procedure of the debate.

The vote total was 57 to 40.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) took to the Senate floor moments before the vote to call for support. “In my effort to get this done, I don't know how I could have been more reasonable,” Reid said. “It's our troops that will pay the price.”

After leading fight for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ Sam Nunn now backs repeal

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, who as a senator from Georgia helped lead the fight for the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, now says he agrees the policy can be repealed.

"Society has changed, and the military has changed," Nunn told the Associated Press this week.

The Senate Armed Services Committee held hearings on repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" last week, after the Pentagon released a report that found a large majority of military service members do not believe openly gay troops would have a negative impact.

Advocates urge calls to senators on behalf of DADT vote

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Local activists are urging supporters of a repeal of the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to call local senators to plea for a “yes” vote on the 2011 Defense Authorization bill cloture vote tentatively scheduled for tonight.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to bring a vote to the full Senate tonight, if time allows.

Here is a script, provided by one of our readers:

Reid: Senate cloture vote on defense bill ‘likely’ tonight, includes ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal

The Georgia Voice Editors
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said this morning on the Senate floor that a cloture vote on the 2011 Defense Authorization bill, which includes repeal language for the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, could be voted on tonight if time allowed, according to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

“And I’m likely going to move to my motion to reconsider on the Defense Authorization Act this evening,” Reid said. “Allowing, as I will indicate at that time, time for amendments to that piece of legislation.”

According to SLDN, Reid is “actively reaching out to his Republican colleagues to reach an agreement on how to proceed.”

Senate Minority Leader doubts lame-duck ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cast doubt on a lame-duck repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

When asked by host David Gregory whether or not the Senate will vote to repeal the policy in light of a recent Pentagon report stating as much as 70 percent of military servicemembers believed repeal would be positive or have no impact on the military’s morale, McConnell said that he favored Sen. John McCain’s (R-Az.) view on the issue and would “follow his lead.”

“People are talking like that, that is the only issue,” McConnell said. “That defense bill also has abortions in military hospitals. Once you get on the defense bill, it typically takes two weeks.  I don't see how we can possibly finish the Defense Authorization Bill, a two-week bill, wholly aside from these controversial items that are in it — there are a whole lot of other things in it — before the end of the year.”