Why Harry Reid decided to move foward with DADT vote ...

[jefferson_dem]

Why Harry Reid decided to move foward with DADT vote
By Greg Sargent

Earlier this afternoon, just before Harry Reid went onto the Senate floor and gave a speech calling for a vote on repeal of don't ask don't tell -- which has now failed -- he turned to a Senate aide and shrugged his shoulders.

"I have to go to the floor, but I'm not going to like giving this speech," he said, according to the aide.

Reid then went to the floor and called for an immediate vote on the defense authorization bill containing repeal, in the full knowledge that it was likely to go down. As Reid knew, he had not agreed to Susan Collins's demand for four days of debate time, giving several Republicans who support repeal an excuse to vote No, dooming the bill to fall short of 60 votes needed for passage, 57-40.

I have now spoken to a senior Senate aide and put together what happened and why Reid did this.

Reid concluded that even if Collins was sincere in her promise to vote for repeal if given the four days of debate, there was no way to prevent the proceedings from taking longer, the aide says. Reid decided that the cloture vote, the 30 hours of required post-cloture debate, and procedural tricks mounted by conservative Senators who adamantly oppose repeal would have dragged the process on far longer.

"It would have been much more than four days," the aide says. "Her suggestions were flat out unworkable given how the Senate really operates. You can talk about four days until the cows come home. That has very little meaning for Coburn and DeMint and others have become very skilled at grinding this place to a halt."

After spending several hours thinking it over today and consulting with other members of the Dem caucus, Reid decided to push forward with the vote today, the aide says.

<SNIP>

Is this the end of the road? It's possible that repeal could be brought up again as a stand-alone bill, the aide tells me. But this is unlikely, the aide adds, because such a move would be ripe for all sorts of procedural shenanigans.

And there you have it.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/12/why_harry_reid_decided_to_move.html

[jefferson_dem]

1. UPDATE: Lieberman and others now will introduce a free-standing bill to repeal DADT;

...says Sen Reid has agreed to a vote

http://twitter.com/#!/jamiedupree/statuses/12984288152649730

[dennis4868]

2. good going repubs...

you gave the finger to 911 responders and gays in the military today....nice days work! :-(

[DrToast]

3. Reid is right. 30 hours would have provided the time Collins wanted. She was full of it.

So was Brown, apparently.

[Aramchek]

4. and fuck Joe Manchin, as well