There appear to be lots of machinations on Capitol Hill regarding repeal of DADT. Last night, John posted the statement from Speaker Pelosi.
Late last night, Josh Gerstein, who always seems to be right on top of what's happening, filed this report:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) are expected to introduce standalone "don't ask, don't tell" repeal legislation on Tuesday, three sources actively involved in repeal discussions told POLITICO Monday.There were lots of rumors and shifting stories. But, Josh had this when he posted:
However, considerable uncertainty swirled around the mechanics of the "don't ask" repeal effort over the course of the day Monday.
By evening, it appeared that identically-worded bills would be moved independently in each body depending on the flow of business, rather than moving from one body to the other. House action still seemed likely to precede Senate action on the legislation, however, because of the likely need for a cloture petition and associated debate on the Senate side due to the filibuster expected from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)Standalone is the only hope at this point. And, as we've known for weeks, we're subject to the constraints of the calendar and abusers of the process.
Repeal advocates view the standalone bill as their best hope for enacting legislation to set in motion a repeal of the ban on openly gay servicemembers. Advocates had pinned their hopes on the broader defense authorization bill, which already contains conditional repeal language, but it fell three votes short last week of the 60 needed to move to the floor. However, during that process it appeared that there were more than 60 votes for repeal itself, so backers quickly shifted their focus to passing a standalone bill.
Let's hope our allies can find a way to make the process work. I feel better knowing the Speaker is engaged.
