"Hoyer expected to file 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal bill Tuesday"

[Clio the Leo]

Hoyer expected to file 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal bill Tuesday

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.

However, considerable uncertainty swirled around the mechanics of the "don't ask" repeal effort over the course of the day Monday. At one point, a key repeal advocate said advocates and lawmakers supporting repeal had agreed that the Senate would take the initiative on the freestanding measure and that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) planned to file a motion on Tuesday to bypass the usual committee process.

A couple of hours later on Monday, other sources told POLITICO that the House had agreed to act first and that the Hoyer/Murphy bill would be promptly moved through the House as a privileged resolution. That scenario seemed to get support from a post on the Center for American Progress blog Monday afternoon that said Hoyer and Murphy had already introduced their bill. The news was tweeted and retweeted, but within minutes the link to the story was dead. (It was sucked quickly down the memory hole, but I did manage to scrounge up this cache.) The author of the post, Igor Volsky, told me late Monday that it was "published prematurely."

Adding to the murk, Hoyer's office refused to confirm that any bill was imminent, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a cryptic statement that observed that "all options are on the table," and Reid's office declined to comment on the scheduling issue.

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.)

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.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1210/Hoyer_expected_to_file_dont_ask_dont_tell_repeal_bill_Tuesday.html

[Clio the Leo]

1. Related: "Dick Lugar Says He’s ‘Sympathetic’ To New DADT Repeal Effort"

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/12/13/lugar-dadt/

[terrya]

2. I'd suggest everyone calling their Senators again.

I will.

It sounds like this just may happen. Remember the quickness of the cloture vote last week.

This...and the DREAM Act...can still happen.

Maybe I'm ridiculously naive, I don't know.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. If They Are Still Dicking Around Over A Compromise That Is Inevitable

If they are still dicking around over a compromise that is inevitable with the emphasis on the word inevitable DADT will never pass. And it might be a decade if ever that we get this chance again.

[tomm2thumbs]

4. It is the Democratic Party's issue to lose if they don't make something happen.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. There Are Fifty Eight Democratic Senators

We need two Repubs to invoke cloture.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. We have all the Republicans we need for cloture on a stand-alone bill

Indeed, I think you'll get in the area of 64-65 invoking cloture on a DADT repeal stand-alone.

Hoyer has to put it up in the House because there is no corresponding House bill, and it gives the senators comfort if the House bill won't cause further nonsense in committee. They'll model the House bill after the Lieberman, Reid, Collins stand-alone.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I Agree

But they won't vote on ending DADT until after a vote on taxes. This is frustrating because a tax bill will pass this month or next.

[Lucky 13]

6. Now see... why isn't President Obama working with folks to get THIS DEAL done?

Why isn't Biden sent to the Hill to lobby for passage of this bill?
Why isn't he lecturing anyone about how this deal must get passed?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. They Voted On It Last Week

Ninety eight percent of Democrats voted for it. It failed because it didn't garner the three Republican votes for cloture. The three Republicans who would have voted for cloture, opposed it because they made a pledge on their party to block all majority backed bill until there was a vote on tax cuts.

[Lucky 13]

9. I understand that.... but where's the outreach? who in the administration is working on this?

Where's the brokering of some deal? Who is pushing for votes?

I don't see it...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. We Lost One Vote-Manchin-That's It-One Vote

The Repubs have pledged to block all votes until a tax cut bill is passed. Only Susan Collins bucked her party.

[phleshdef]

13. Apparently they forgot they were suppose to give you personal, by the minute play by plays...

...on all their efforts.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. They "Whipped" Ninety Eight Percent Of Dems Into Shape

It's in the Repub's ballpark;unfortunately...

[Lucky 13]

15. Personal? By the minute? Please... try to be a little more condescending.

What a nasty fucking response.

I don't need personal, by the minute play by plays on all their efforts. I'd just like to know what their plan is to get this done by the end of the year. If he's going to fulfill that promise, it has to be in the next few days, since we obviously have ZERO chance of getting it done in 2011 or 2012. Has he tried to outreach to Rethugs on this? Has he had any closed door meetings to negotiate this one?


For those of us concerned about service men and women being granted a basic civil right... it's kind of a pressing issue. But clearly you don't give a fuck and will act like an asshole to anyone who does. Nice.

[phleshdef]

16. My, so sensitive (you told me to try, there ya go).

More to your point. We all ready know what the plan is. Once the Republicans get their tax deal sealed, the few holdouts will go ahead and vote to let it proceed. And if those Republican holdouts are straight up lying and pull out some other bullshit reason to vote against it, there isn't much that can be done other than the admin can decide to let the court decision stand and hope no one finds a way to challenge it. I figure the holdouts will go for it though. They explcitly cited the pending tax deal as their reason for voting against it a few days ago.

[Lucky 13]

17. Nice job...

But actually, when I cut through the condescension, that is some interesting information that I'm happy to learn about. We'll see how it pans out in the next few days I guess.

I'm on this like a hawk and just want to see some action. Now is our best and only chance for a long while... and if we ran out of time dragging feet, dawdling, ridiculous surveys, and other bullshit it will be beyond disappointing. More like devastating. And I realize it's of little importance to some... but its of extreme importance for others.

Just a random aside... It's difficult enough to be gay in this country. People who aren't don't understand the day to day discrimination that goes on. It wears you down. And it's even worse when even our so-called "allies" are condescending or mean or whatever. So sometimes it's difficult to hear good info when it's packaged like a punch in the face.

Just a thought. Thanks for info.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. People's Nerves Here Are Very Short. It's Sad

The bottom line is that the Repubs we need to repeal DADT won't vote for cloture until they get their tax cuts.

It is what is.

What should be galling to any sentient person is if they don't get their tax cuts they will still get them next year and we won't get our repeal of DADT because we will need to win over eight Repubs instead of two.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Any article in which Pelosi starts talking about what is and is not

on her famous 'table' makes me queasy.