Just now, the House voted to pass legislation repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. The vote count was 250-175, with 9 not voting. We got 10 more Republicans voting yea than in May, with 16 more yea votes overall than in May. I’ll have a full list of the yeas and nays when it’s available.
Tonight at 4 PM PST/7 PM EST, Courage Campaign (who I’m working with on DADT repeal actions) will be hosting a post-vote strategy conference call with Rep. Patrick Murphy, an Iraq veteran and the lead sponsor and advocate in the House, to discuss the most important next steps for advocates and what the landscape looks like in the Senate. Click here to obtain the call-in number.
Update 1: In terms of the 15 Republicans who voted aye compared to 5 in May, we picked up Bono Mack, Campbell, Castle, Dent, Lincoln Diaz-Balart (which is odd given that he managed floor time for the Republicans on the rule), Dreier, Ehlers, Flake, Platts, Reichert. More commentary later.
Update 2: Here’s the e-mail that’s being blasted out to Courage Campaign DADT activists. Hope you can join us. And by the way, if you can help chip in to cover costs of bringing us all together with Congress’ leading advocate of DADT repeal, you can do so here.
Dear Adam —
I just walked off the House floor, where I saw passage of my amendment — co-sponsored with Leader Hoyer — to begin repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” It was one of the proudest moments of my life.
This move by the House puts the ball on the 1-yard line in our efforts to get it to the President’s desk. So, following the example of my beloved Philadelphia Eagles, it’s time to huddle up and plan how we’re going to put the ball in the end zone.
Join me and Courage Campaign on a nationwide conference call at 7 p.m. EST/ 4 p.m. PST. We’ll talk about what needs to be done to take us to victory in the Senate. Click here to get the call-in number.
The time to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has come. It has come for the House — twice now, in fact, has the House voted for repeal. And on the conference call, I’ll talk about how it will come for the Senate, and what we need to do.
Sens. Lieberman and Collins, along with their allies Sens. Udall and Gillibrand, have introduced a stand-alone bill that mirrors our amendment in the House. But the calendar is tight and there aren’t many votes to spare. Opponents of repeal are lining up to gut the bill by inserting poison pill amendments.
We can’t let that happen. Join me and Courage on a nationwide conference call at 7 p.m. EST/ 4 p.m. PST. I’ll outline next steps and the most important things we can and must do together to engineer repeal in the Senate.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/UrgentDADTCall
Then, we’ll go forth and make it happen.
In solidarity,
Rep. Patrick Murphy
Update 3: Snowe’s statement:
“After careful analysis of the comprehensive report compiled by the Department of Defense and thorough consideration of the testimony provided by the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service chiefs, I support repeal of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law,” Snowe said in a statement.
Update 4: Here’s video of Rep. Patrick Murphy speaking today:
Again, to join our nationwide conference call tonight at 4 PM PST/7 PM EST, click here to obtain the call-in number. 261 people have signed up so far!
Update 5: We’re up to 440 people signed up and have to add a second conference line and operator. Oops.
Also, Rep. Murphy will be taking questions on the call. I’ll also be on with Courage founder and chair Rick Jacobs to answer questions after.
