9/11 Responders, Vote to Extend Bush Tax Cuts to the Wealthy, and Vote
No to Funding the Troops in a Time of War Putting Troops in Danger.
This is More Sickening and Disgusting Behavior From the GOP. Vote them
ALL out of office in 2012.
Senate vote kills repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'
The Senate on Thursday killed repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell"
ban on openly gay members of the military, delivering a blow to
President Obama one week after a Pentagon study urged an end to the
Clinton-era ban.
Although last-ditch efforts were underway to try another avenue to
repeal the ban before Congress adjourns for the year, the procedural
vote likely ends for the foreseeable future the possibility that the
17-year-old ban can be repealed legislatively, leaving the matter to
the courts.
A lawsuit by the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay conservative group, that
challenges the ban is before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in San Francisco, which is expected to issue a ruling sometime next
summer.
The 57-40 vote to move ahead on the defense authorization bill, which
contained the repeal, fell three votes short of the 60 needed to
overcome a Republican filibuster.
Obama issued a statement saying, "As commander in chief, I have
pledged to repeal this discriminatory law." He urged continued efforts
to repeal the law this year.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said they
would try to move a stand-alone bill, but it faces the same procedural
roadblocks that killed the much more popular defense bill. Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., has been blocking the defense bill since spring
because it would repeal the ban on gays, lesbians and bisexuals
serving openly in the military.
The Human Rights Campaign, a pro-gay lobbying group, demanded that
Obama act unilaterally to cease defense of the ban in court, and halt
discharges of gay and lesbian troops under an emergency "stop-loss"
military order put in place by the George W. Bush administration,
which prevents troop discharges in case of military need.
The Department of Justice has been defending the ban in court as a
matter of U.S. law. But Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Fred Sainz,
said decisions about which laws to defend are "a subjective judgment
made by every administration. They are not under an obligation to
defend every law and have not."
Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called for a vote on the
repeal bill knowing it would fail. He said Republicans kept changing
their demands on the parameters of the debate of the defense bill and
concluded they would continue blocking the bill.
Repeal supporters believed they had enough Republican votes to pass
repeal of the gay ban if the broader defense bill had reached a floor
debate.
Last week, the Pentagon weighed in strongly in favor of repeal,
issuing the results of an exhaustive, 10-month study, which included
surveys of active-duty troops and focus groups. The study found that
lifting the ban would not harm military effectiveness, unit cohesion
or other measures of military prowess.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified to Congress last week urging
repeal and warning that if Congress does not act, the courts will.
McCain, who once said he would go along with the results of the study,
called it flawed and cited continued resistance by combat troops in
the Army and Marines, as well as special operations forces, to serving
with gay troops.
Obama, who many times promised gay groups that repeal would happen on
his watch, had personally phoned GOP Senators urging repeal. Collins
and Lieberman had been trying to broker an agreement with Reid on how
much time and how many amendments would be allowed for debate on the
defense bill.
Collins rushed to the Senate floor just as Reid finished announcing
that he would call up the bill, accusing him of sabotaging repeal.
"There was such a clear path for us to be able to get this bill done
and I am perplexed and frustrated that this important bill is going to
become a victim of politics," Collins said. "Sen. Lieberman and I have
been bargaining in good faith with the majority leader."
Collins said she thought she had an agreement to allow a debate with
10 GOP amendments and five Democratic amendments.
A senior Democratic aide said Reid had given Collins plenty of ground
but that she had rejected the offer of 15 amendments. The Senate was
running out of time and Collins was offering no clear path around
continuing GOP obstruction, the aide said, adding that Reid had
offered an open amendment process on the defense bill earlier in the
year but Collins refused then to go along.
Reid was backed by Senate Armed Services Committee chair Carl Levin,
D-Mich., who said the clock had run out.
The vote kills for this session of Congress the entire defense bill -
the first time that has happened in 48 years. It also contained a pay
increase for the military and many other components.
Republicans had insisted that their deal with Obama on tax cuts be
resolved before proceeding to any other business, including the
defense bill.
Repeal of the ban had passed the House earlier this year, but
Republican leaders who will assume control of the House in January
have said they have no intention of bringing up repeal when they take
control for the next two years. The next chance Democrats have to
control the House is in the 2012 elections.
Gay-rights groups erupted in outrage over the vote, but Aubrey Sarvis,
executive director of the Service Members Legal Defense Network, held
out hope that the effort was not dead.
Christopher Neff, deputy executive director of the Palm Center, a
pro-gay think tank at UC Santa Barbara, said leaders must consider
"every available legislative, executive and judicial option." The U.S.
ban on military service by homosexuals puts the nation alone in the
West, and in the company of only Bulgaria, Jordan, Poland, Turkey and
the United Arab Emirates.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/09/MN5V1GOF73.DTL#ixzz17fT4ZfEY
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/09/MN5V1GOF73.DTL#ixzz17fSnhKNT
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
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