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Report: WH Deal Delays DADT Repeal, Lacks Non-Discrimination

Politico:

"Congressional leaders, gay rights advocates and Pentagon officials are meeting at the White House Monday morning to discuss an emerging deal on repealing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gays in the military, sources say."

The Wonk Room confirms the meeting.

The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld reports some details, with an emphasis on "delayed implementation".

"A White House aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the White House meeting. "Our understanding is that Congress is determined to act this week and we are learning more about their proposal now," said the aide.  A Democratic leadership aide called the development "promising" but said discussions are ongoing. The House Democratic leadership is expected to meet about the proposal later this afternoon.

According to one person familiar with the White House meeting, the proposal that is being considered would repeal the current statute this year, but implementation of repeal would not take place until after completion of the Pentagon’s working group study in December. Further, repeal would require certification from President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Joint Chiefs Chair Admiral Mike Mullen that the new law will not have a negative impact on readiness, recruitment, retention and other key factors that affect the military.

The language would not include a nondiscrimination policy but rather will return authority for open service by gays and lesbians back to the Pentagon. A statement of administration is expected to be released this week, potentially as early as tomorrow."

Returning open service authority to the Pentagon and the lack of a non-discrimination clause are key data points. Sources indicate after repeal and the study's completion, the President would sign an executive order. But "when" is a question, as well as the EO's durability.

WaPo: This Week's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Vote "Too Close to Call"

This is the "all hands on deck" week to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the vote count is "too close to all," according to analysis in the Washington Post.

"The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote by the end of the week on an amendment to the annual defense spending bill that would end "don't ask, don't tell," which Congress passed in 1993. Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) favors a repeal, but it is unclear whether he has enough votes, with six senators on the panel considered undecided, legislative sources said.

The House is expected to vote on a similar measure this week, based on a repeal proposal sponsored by Rep. Patrick J. Murphy (D-Pa.), an Iraq war veteran. The House Armed Services Committee declined to act on Murphy's bill in passing its version of the defense spending measure last week, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has told gay advocacy groups that she will allow a floor vote if there is enough support in favor of a repeal.

'This is our 'all hands on deck' moment,' said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which represents gays who have been drummed out of the armed forces. "For repeal to succeed, it is critical that all proponents for full repeal weigh in now, including the White House. We are only a few days away from this historic vote."

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman John Shalikashvili—who pushed for DADT in the Clinton Administration and came out for repeal in 2007—wrote a weekend op-ed in the Post. The general advises "delayed implementation"—Congress should repeal DADT now and the Pentagon should act later.

"If Congress fails to repeal it, the Pentagon's study process will be compromised because the Defense Department will not have the authority to implement its own recommendations. Fortunately, there is an option that fully respects the secretary's request to Congress while moving forward on a reasonable timetable. Congress could repeal the federal statute and return authority to the military to set rules about gay troops, just as the armed services had before "don't ask, don't tell" became law in 1993."

A Sunday editorial in The New York Times advised a similar strategy.

News: Pelosi on DADT, White House "Unhelpful", ENDA Vote Delayed

Several updates on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ...

· Speaker Nancy Pelosi vows to repeal DADT this year. "[Pelosi] wouldn’t say whether the House will take the lead or predict when [it] would be repealed. But she made it clear ending 'Don’t ask, don’t tell' is at the top of her agenda. 'I don’t have any doubt that ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ will be a memory by the end of this year,' she said."

· Pelosi less confident about ENDA—stalled since September. Pelosi recently said ENDA would have a "much better likelihood" of passage if DADT repeal was successful first.

· Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), sponsor of the DADT repeal bill, has an op-ed in Politico.  The Iraq War vet slams anti-repeal arguments as "weak and outdated."

· Next week, Murphy expected to introduce DADT repeal amendment to the Defense Authorization Act.

· Servicemembers United discovers 630 additional discharges under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that have NOT been counted. The discharges were discovered in a Freedom of Information Request. Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former U.S. Army intelligence officer discharged under DADT, says the data confirms SU's "suspicions" the Pentagon's numbers are "incomplete and under-reported."

· Nicholson was a guest on Michelangelo Signorile's Sirius radio show yesterday and discussed a February 1 White House meeting. The meeting was only days after President Obama's State of the Union address and WH staff reportedly said they did not intend to repeal DADT in 2010.

· Nicholson says the White House was "passive" on repeal. "Our sense in leaving the meeting was that it was going to be a difficult battle to get them to ... [include] repeal language in the [Defense] Authorization bill...I certainly left that meeting with the impression that they weren't going to help us."

· Complete audio of Signorile's interview HERE.

· Barney Frank: ENDA vote delayed until "late June, early July."

· Finally: Timeline of promised ENDA votes in 2010.

FWIW: The House and Senate will recess in August.  The election is November. Will House members want to vote on ENDA only days before August  townhall meetings and campaigns? And the Senate is expected to vote ... when?

Lieberman Introduces Senate's First "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal Bill

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has introduced the Senate’s first bill to repeal "Don’t ask, Don’t Tell". The bill submitted this morning has 11 Democratic cosponsors—including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (MI), reportedly only the second time he has co-sponsored a bill in that capacity—but no Republican co-sponsors so far. Kerry Eleveld at The Advocate:

The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 would repeal the 1993 law that banned lesbian and gay soldiers from serving openly in the military and replace it with a policy that prohibits discrimination against service members on the basis of their sexual orientation. Lieberman explained that the nondiscrimination provision would make the change “more permanent legislatively,” so a future administration couldn’t revert back to something akin to “don’t ask, don’t tell” by executive action.

Lieberman, who has opposed the ’93 law since its inception, said ending the policy has significant support and that he would push for passing the bill this year, although he wasn’t sure he had the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.  “I think a guess right now—and this is really a guess—if this bill came to a vote tomorrow, we’d have over 50 votes and that’s saying a lot,” he said. “Do we have 60? Not clear yet, but possible.”

The Lieberman/Levin bill would complement the House version of the Military Readiness Act sponsored by Pennsylvania's Patrick Murphy. There are 188 co-sponsors for Murphy's legislation, approaching the 218 votes needed for passage. Despite conflicting signals from the White House, Murphy tells DC Agenda he is confident Congress will take up the issue "legislatively in the next couple months.

And: Lieberman says FY 2011 Defense Authorization Request could be the best vehicle to process the repeal.

"That’s something that I’m happy to consider and, of course, it’s very important to have [Chairman Levin's] support for that," Lieberman said, noting that including a measure in committee would have "the procedural advantage” of forcing opponents to find the 60 votes needed to strip out the measure once it reached the floor. If the opposition failed to amass those votes, they would have to filibuster the entire Defense authorization bill, which would include many other provisions they might hesitate to obstruct, such as an increase in compensation for military personnel and funding for various defense systems."

Lieberman says the Obama Administration, which initially asked him to sponsor the bill, has not discussed timing or specific strategies for repeal.

Per Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, the co-sponsors are as follows: Levin (MI), Udall (CO), Gillibrand (NY), Burris (IL), Bingaman (NM), Boxer and Feinstein (CA), Wyden and Merkely (OR), Leahy (VT), Specter (PA) and Franken (MN).

Gibbs Will Not Commit to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal Timeline

After a terrific week of movement toward repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"—between the President's State of the Union address to the Senate Armed Services Committee's historic hearing—there is more punting from the White House to Congress. At Monday's White House press briefing, The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the DADT repeal timeline. Gibbs said he believed the military's ban on openly gay serving troops would be legislatively repealed ... but would not commit to passing the legislation this year.

From the transcript:

ELEVELD: Senator Lieberman is planning to introduce a "don't ask, don't tell" repeal bill next week. Would the president like to see Congress pass repeal this year?

GIBBS: As you know, Kerry, the president is strongly in support of this, working with Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen. There is a process that's underway. You saw in Admiral Mullen the first Joint [Chiefs] Chair to openly — active Joint [Chiefs] Chair — to openly call for its repeal.

We have stated throughout this process that the only durable way for this to happen is through legislation. We think that Senator Lieberman's proposal is obviously an important step in that legislation, and I would point out that you heard from commanders in the field over the weekend on news shows as well as former chairman Powell also come out strongly in support of repealing "don't ask, don't tell."

ELEVELD: A lot of people fear that if it doesn't happen this year that it very well may happen.

GIBBS: I don't think the president shares that view because I believe, and i think you all have seen this throughout, obviously there's been a lot of polling on this done since the president's proposal and since Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen testified on Capitol Hill about this. There is strong bipartisan support for its repeal among, among the American people. The president obviously shares that, as do important members of the military, and we think it will become law.

The White House has indicated it does not favor including a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in its 2011 Defense Authorization Request.

There are 186 co-sponsors for Rep. Patrick Murphy's (D-PA) bill that would repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". That's approaching the approaching the 218 votes needed for passage. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is expected to introduce a Senate bill later this week. OTOH: The Politico reports Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl; Levin (D-MI) continues "to pursue the idea of a moratorium, which he deems the legislation most likely to pass this year.

President Obama elevated the prominence of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by calling for a repeal "this year" in his State of the Union. Now the White House is clearly backing away from that timeline. Unfortunately, with the Administration's lack of leadership and the Democratic Senate's mid-term election-year tepidness on gay rights, a 2010 congressional DADT repeal may become very unlikely. And with the expectation that Dems may lose seats in the mid-terms, a repeal may not happen anytime soon.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal in FY 2011 Defense Authorization?

The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't tell" will most likely be an amendment to next year's Defense Authorization, Rep. Barney Frank tells the Washington Blade.

Frank said in an interview with the Blade that repealing the 1993 law barring gays from serving openly in the military would happen as part of the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill. 'The House will take up and the Senate will take up ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal,' he said. 'That will again, like hate crimes, even more so, will have to be done, I believe, in the context of the defense authorization. You can’t do the standalone bill. It belongs in the defense authorization.' Frank said lawmakers would seek to amend the defense measure to include a provision repealing 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.' Such a move would mimic the way Congress recently enacted the hate crimes measure."

The openly gay congressman tells The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld this has been the "strategy" for overturning the policy all along. That may be news to Pennsylvania Democrat Patrick Murphy whose DADT repeal bill that has 177 co-sponsors. The White House and Senate leadership have not confirmed this strategy.

Frank criticized Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL), who recently re-suggested that Congress was "too busy" to repeal the "controversial" DADT: "Frank is among the supporters who have asserted Congress would take up repeal in 2010. 'I think that’s a terrible mistake for him to say that and I believe that it will be a great injustice to wait any longer,' Frank said. 'I don’t think he has that option.'"

Hmm. Wonder why Barney randomly dropped this tidbit ...

In related news: The RAND corporation and the University of Florida release a new study which shows support for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has declined within the military ranks. "The study surveyed military personnel who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and found that having a gay or lesbian colleague in their unit had no significant impact on their unit's cohesion or readiness. Just 40 percent of the military members surveyed expressed support for the policy, while 28 percent opposed it and 33 percent were neutral—less support than seen in previous surveys."

White House Asks Lieberman to Sponsor DADT Repeal

The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is finally gaining some much-needed traction in the Senate. During Saturday night's keynote address to the Human Rights Campaign, President Barack Obama promised to end the policy that prevents gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. Shortly afterward, the Administration’s highest-ranking LGBT official told The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld the White House has identified a key senator to repeal the ban: Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman.

"On ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ this administration is talking directly to the Hill—we are in direct discussions with Senator Lieberman," John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, told The Advocate following the president's remarks.

People familiar with the strategy around Senate introduction say the discussions generally involve two different tracks: the bipartisan track, with at least one of the cosponsors sitting on the SASC; and a second track, which would be a Democratic introduction by someone who sits on the SASC.

Lieberman is generally seen as a strong candidate for carrying the bill given his position on the Armed Services Committee and his strong engagement with the military. Insiders also say the senator could use the legislation to burnish his progressive credentials, which might be a consideration for him based on his support for Sen. John McCain during the 2008 election and the fact that he lost his 2006 Democratic primary race to Ned Lamont.

Lieberman also has strong ties to Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of whom might consider being his GOP counterpart on a repeal bill. Collins cosponsored Lieberman’s introduction this year of the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, which would extend spousal benefits to the same-sex partners of federal government employees.

Only last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent letters to President Obama and Defense Secretary Gates asking for "leadership" to make the repeal happen.

Meanwhile, in the House, there are 177 co-sponsors to the repeal bill introduced by Pennsylvania Democrat Patrick Murphy in March. 218 are needed for passage, so it's not too far away.

Gohmert: Hate Crimes Bill Would Legalize Necrophilia, Bestiality ...

Last night, led by Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), lawmakers convened a special session of floor speeches urging a repeal of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." Extreme right-wing and anti-gay Texas Republican Rep. Louis Gohmert called Murphy's proposed DADT repeal a "perverse ... social experimentation" and that soldiers were being "held hostage by a sociological attack." Gohmert then launched a bizarre and  vitriolic rant that claimed the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill would lead to legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality. Oh and Nazism, too.

If you're oriented toward animals, bestiality, then, you know, that's not something that can be used, held against you or any bias be held against you for that. Which means you'd have to strike any laws against bestiality, if you're oriented toward corpses, toward children, you know, there are all kinds of perversions, [...] pedophiles or necrophiliacs or what most would say is perverse sexual orientations but the trouble is, we made amendments to eliminate pedophiles from being included in the definition.

Gohmert adds that he is "not a racist" and once voted for Alan Keyes, the extreme anti-gay Republican.

Oh that's right. Keyes is "black". Forget that sometimes. Watch the crazy, via Think Progress, WHEN YOU JUMP.