Gay
glossy The Advocate is reporting that Senate Majority
Harry Reid is considering a plan to bring a vote on repeal of “Don't
Ask, Don't Tell” on Wednesday.
“Democrats might make use of a narrow
window of down time if the four bills scheduled for a vote Wednesday
fail to garner the 60 votes necessary to proceed to debate,”
Washington correspondent Kerry Eleveld wrote. “If all fail, the
NDAA could be brought to a vote by sometime Wednesday afternoon.”
Eleveld, quoting unnamed sources,
reported that President Barack Obama is backing the strategy and
“intends to make calls to key GOP targets.”
Repeal
of the law that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving openly has
the endorsement of a Pentagon report and the military's top leaders,
but Republicans, led
by Arizona Senator John McCain, are threatening to filibuster the
measure.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say
repeal is inevitable and would prefer a legislative solution that
allows the military to ease out of the policy over months – perhaps
even years – over a court imposed end. Two
cases currently on appeal have declared the policy unconstitutional.