It looks like the White House and Congress have struck a deal between the Pentagon and the gay community to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in this year’s Defense authorization bill. I’m very impressed with the lead role that Rep. Patrick Murphy has taken in pushing this through.
LGBT groups met with officials at the White House while legislative affairs representatives from the White House and the Department of Defense met with the staff of House and Senate leadership offices on Capitol Hill along with those of Rep. Patrick Murphy and senators Carl Levin and Joseph Lieberman…
…According to one person familiar with the White House meeting, the proposal that is being considered would legislatively repeal the statute this year, but the current policy would remain in place and implementation of repeal would not occur until after the Pentagon’s working group study is finished in December. Further, completion of repeal would require certification from President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Joint Chiefs chair Adm. Mike Mullen that the new law will not have a negative impact on readiness, recruitment, retention, and other key factors affecting the military.
The language would not include a nondiscrimination policy but rather will return authority for open service by gays and lesbians to the Pentagon…
Murphy is expected to offer a repeal measure as an attachment to the NDAA on the House floor, and Levin has made no secret of the fact that he will move forward with an attachment in committee if he has the votes.
Murphy has long said he has the 217 votes necessary to pass repeal in the House, and Hill insiders have said for weeks that Levin is one or two votes away from the 15 needed to attach the measure in committee.
If Levin can’t attach it in committee, it can still be introduced as an amendment. It would probably require 60 votes at that point, but I think 60 is achievable.
Obama seems to have the knack of getting things done without getting credit for any of it.
It’s a little early to say he’ll get no credit for it.
It hasn’t been done yet and Obama said he would do it earlier than this anyway.
Let’s not count this as a victory until it happens. There are lots of “ifs” involved here, lots of people will have to sign off on it and Robert Gates has shown no indication at all that he supports this change. This “victory” could be years away (just as the health care reform bill doesn’t really kick in until 2014).
And why are our political leaders in a supposedly civilian controlled military system so deferential to the needs of the military? NO MODERN defense force in the industrialized West has any problems whatsoever with gays serving in the military.
Nor is unfavorable public opinion the reason. ABC News reports that in February their polling showed that 75% of Americans had no problems with “gays and lesbians who disclose their sexual orientation” serving in the Armed Forced. 64% of the Republicans even favor this an 61% of those who identify themselves as conservatives!
In a sense, maybe this is something good that came out of BP. Obama’s desperate to change the topic.
I’ll believe it when i see it.
fact is, the past couple of years have been nothing but bait and switch (health care reform, financial reform, promises to filibuster the FISA amendments act).
Why should this be any different?
So now gays can be served up into the USA’s perpetual war machine’s meat grinder in dignity, VICTORY!?
Isn’t that like taking a lemon and making piss?
I think it is a great victory for the gay community that they will be able to serve openly but I wish we would have a debate about the never ending wars.
why is Murphy so important here?
I honestly don’t know why; asking for an explanation.
Well, I know Patrick and I worked to get him elected. He’s in a tough reelection fight against the old incumbent he defeated. His district is competitive and traditionally Republican. He’s also a member of the Blue Dog Caucus. He’s also just a sophomore. And yet he’s taken real leadership over this issue from the day he took office.
Because Murphy served. And he’s of the young set(compared to someone like Webb). So he doesn’t have any of the prejudices like some of the old guard might. And he knows it is the right thing to do.
I have relied on this website for quality reporting on this complicated issue. And you haven’t let me down yet. Thanks again, BooMan!!
Why does this look more cosmetic to me than real?
The military must complete its study; that kicks the can down the road. And relies on the timing of the military’s study as the trigger for the policy change. The military can delay a change just by delaying the delivery of the results of their study.
The President must sign off on statements that readiness will not be affected…..
And meanwhile the policy remains the same.
All this does is attempt to remove it as a campaign issue for November.
Where is the actual change? Where is the actual compromise?
Note: what follows is based on the assumption that I’m reading Booman’s post (and the original reporting) correctly, and that the deal, as described, has been cut and agreed to by all parties.
Where is the actual change?
By the end of 2010 the DADT policy is reversed and the US armed forces joins the 20+ armed forces around the world that allow gays and lesbians to serve openly.
Where is the actual compromise?
The compromise is a face-saving measure in which the DOD will make the policy change after it completes its policy review, rather than Congress making the change legislatively.
Whether it will pass, I don’t know. But that seems to be the current status of efforts to eliminate DADT.
Maybe I am wrong, but I thought the December 1st deadline was set by an act of Congress. I’m not sure it can be delayed without authorization from Congress. As for the certification, that’s part of the compromise that provides cover for skittish congresspeople.
TarheelDem is exactly correct in his analysis. The AP is reporting that Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary, is “lukewarm” on this and wants to wait until December 1 and the military study is complete. (That really is kicking the can down the road again). And why is Gates, a Republican picked by the shrub, still in this important post? Cannot Obama find a real Democrat for the most important post in the cabinet?
Secondly, the AP is reporting that although there “may” be enough votes in the House, there likely are not in the Senate. Jim Webb of Virginia, for instance, will vote “no”.
Thirdly, as noted above, even if this is passed (and it appears likely) the military will have to sign off on the measure. By all expert accounts, that could take years. And why has the Obama administration essentially ceded control over the military to the military.
Note that no Western power has anything like our anti gay policy.
From the AP story http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5grHLcTA5VMaxM1KPtvrf3OTOfZuQD9FU491O0 :
So the White House appears to be toying with this (where’s the forceful presidential leadership?) and perhaps promising something that they have no intention (and no ability) to deliver.