Two members of the Senate Armed
Services Committee are asking Defense Secretary Robert Gates to
release a report on repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” before its
scheduled December 1 release.
Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and
Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined in making the request on Monday.
Opponents of the law that bans gay and
bisexual service members from serving openly are urging senators to
reconsider repeal during the lame-duck session of Congress, which
began on Monday.
Details
of the report leaked to the Washington
Post
show more than 70 percent of troops are OK with repeal of the policy
that has ended the military careers of more than 13,000 service
members.
Lieberman and Collins sponsored the
repeal amendment attached to the military's annual defense bill in
committee last spring.
The pair urged Gates to make the report
public “as soon as possible.”
“Some of our colleagues in the Senate
share our view about the importance of passing a defense bill but
they are awaiting release of the working group's report before
agreeing to begin debate on the bill,” they wrote.
An early release of the report “could
therefore be instrumental in allowing the defense bill to move
forward.”
Lieberman repeated the call in an
appearance Monday on MSNBC: “I hope that the Defense Department can
find a way to issue this report that they've got pretty much done,
but going through clearance now, as quickly as possible and certainly
before December 1st.”
Over the weekend, Arizona
Senator John McCain, who opposes repeal of the policy, called the
report flawed and asked for a new study.