Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal blows up in Senate [View All]

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The Senate is voting now on party lines on a cloture motion that will probably kill efforts to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell ban on gays in the military.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine rushed to the Senate floor asking why majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suddenly acted moments ago to move ahead on the defense authorization bill, despite their negotiations, ensuring it will fail to get the 60 votes to break a GOP filibuster. If the motion fails, so does repeal of the 17-year old ban.

... Unless something new can be worked out, Reid's move seems likely to kill repeal, along with the entire defense bill, which includes pay increases for the military. By Reid's reckoning, it's been 48 years since the Senate has failed to act on a defense authorization bill.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=78733&tsp=1

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More from Americablog:
http://gay.americablog.com/2010/12/breaking-there-will-be-vote-on-dadt.html


UPDATE @ 3:35 PM: Senate is voting to end the filibuster right now.
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The Majority Leader just said on the Senate floor, "I've bent over backwards to find a way to get this bill done...but, it's clear that Republicans, led by a few of them, don't want to have a vote on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Reid said repeatedly that no matter what he did, he couldn't win because the rules kept being changed.

There will be a vote. But, there's no deal to bring in GOP votes. No Susan Collins. This dooms the chances for passing the DADT language this year.