Levin Co-Sponsors "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal, Pushes MORATORIUM

On the very same day that Sen. Joe Lieberman introduces the Senate’s first bill to repeal "Don’t ask, Don’t Tell", its most prominent co-sponsor, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (MI), publicly begins to undercut the effort to the New York Times:

"Mr. Lieberman was acting in response to President Obama’s pledge to end the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that allows gay men and lesbians to serve in the armed services only if they keep their sexual orientation secret. It is unclear if his bill will get the 60 votes needed for repeal, so Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who heads the Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that a more politically palatable alternative might be a moratorium on discharges under the existing law."

OTOH: If the repeal is included in the FY 2011 Defense Authorization Request, opponents would have to secure 60 votes to filibuster the entire bill. Seems like a no-brainer, right?

The senator's remark is yet another in a series of conflicting messages that give rise to concern that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will not be repealed this year—and with the likelihood of Democratic losses in November, possibly for many years to come. Levin has repeatedly pushed the idea of a moratorium, which is opposed by gay activists, the armed services and (allegedly) the Obama Administration. The Defense Department's Working Group on DADT Repeal suggests full repeal could be "years away". And only two weeks ago, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs twice refused to say the President wanted to see DADT repealed this year. This was only weeks after the President's State of the Union where he called for a repeal "this year".

Public option anyone?

Comments

[Reggieh]

I say moratorium now, add it to the Defense Authorization Request, and be done with it!

[Diva1961]

Some folks still talking out the both sides of their necks.

[Andy Niable]

Regarding a "public option":

The public always has the option of contacting Congress and telling them what to do. Believe it or not, they pay attention. Congressional staffers have told me they consider a single phone call probably reflects the feelings of about 1000 constituents, and consider a written letter to represent even more.

Quite a lot of power, if we'd just use it...

Congressional switchboard:
202-224-3121

For the phone-shy, there's:
Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
House:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

[Da'Realist One]

^^^^ Thank you for posting that info.

Change doesn't happen unless people are ACTIVE AND VOCAL!

[Stuffed Animal]

The Obama administration's opposition to a moratorium is reason enough for me to support it. Isn't there supposed to be urgency around stemming the hemorrhage of Gay servicemen, anyway? While years pass as we wait for repeal, and reactionary Republicans recapture Congress in the interim, more and more of them will be drummed out of the military. I believe that once a moratorium is in place and people see that the world doesn't end, DADT will fall of its own dead weight.