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Note: I’ve been on post-election family vacation/recharging, which is why I’ve been absent the last week or so, but now I’m back to writing.
If you haven’t seen the news last night, Sen. Reid committed to moving DADT repeal via the defense authorization bill to the floor after the Thanksgiving recess. There are still a number of problems, one being that Sen.-elect Mark Kirk is set to take his seat on Monday, November 29th, depriving our side of one vote (Kirk voted against the successful amendment to attach repeal while in the House). If you’re thinking he may now change his position based on the Pentagon report set to show that repeal will not affect unit cohesion, military readiness or the like; or that his new representation of the entire state of Illinois will move him, his spokeswoman poured cold water on that idea.
The second is whether or not we will have a bill the accords Republicans no excuses. Meaning, the bill was filibustered before the election, with not a single Republican voting aye and two Dems (Lincoln and Pryor) voting nay over Reid’s refusal to allow amendments. If he backs down from that refusal and/or allows what some Republicans are demanding- a week or two of debate- then it is likely, but not certain, that the bill will pass cloture overwhelmingly. And such debate stretches out a lame duck session, which already includes planned hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Pentagon report. So basically, we may have yet another extended debate.
Chairman Levin also offered the idea that repeal of the statute pass stand-alone, something which is less likely to work, as getting 60 votes on that is very difficult, plus it would need to go back to the House.
All in all, it means it’s time to pick up the phone. 202-224-3121 is the Capitol switchboard. Especially important those with uncommitted Senators, particularly those in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Update: At a Capitol Hill press conference with a posse of supportive Senators and pro-repeal organizations, via Twitter, evidently Sen. Lieberman told the room Collins and Lugar will vote for cloture “if debate is fair”. This is in line with reports of the request for floor debate and open amendments, the latter of which I know is what moved Collins to a no on the vote before the holiday.
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