[NSDCaucus] A Deal on DADT?
Patrick Patin
By Kerry Eleveld
The Advocate has learned that concurrent
meetings took place
Monday morning at the White House and on Capitol Hill that could help
clear the way for “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal to be attached to the
Department of Defense authorization bill later this week.
LGBT groups met with officials at the White House while legislative affairs representatives from the White House and the Department of Defense met with the House and Senate leadership offices on Capitol Hill along with those of Rep. Patrick Murphy and Sens. Carl Levin and Joseph Lieberman.
A White House aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the White House meeting. "Our understanding is that Congress is determined to act this week and we are learning more about their proposal now," said the aide.
A Democratic leadership aide called the development
"promising" but said
discussions are ongoing. The House Democratic leadership is expected to
meet about the proposal later this afternoon.
According to one
person familiar with the White House meeting, the proposal that is being
considered would repeal the current statute this year, but
implementation of repeal would not take place until after completion of
the Pentagon’s working group study in December. Further, repeal would
require certification from President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates, and Joint Chiefs Chair Admiral Mike Mullen that the new
law will not have a negative impact on readiness, recruitment, retention
and other key factors that affect the military.
The language
would not include a nondiscrimination policy but rather will return
authority for open service by gays and lesbians back to the Pentagon.
A
Statement of Administration Policy is expected to be released this
week, potentially as early as tomorrow.
One repeal advocate
welcomed news of the agreement.
“Every single one of the groups
around that table agreed that this is an amazing step forward,” said the
person, who was close to the discussions at the White House and spoke
on the condition of anonymity.
The news came at the outset of a
week that will be make or break for repeal, with critical votes
scheduled to take place Thursday and Friday on the National Defense
Authorization Act on the House floor and within the Senate Armed
Services Committee. Rep. Murphy is expected to offer a repeal measure as
an attachment to the NDAA on the House floor and Sen. Levin has made no
secret of the fact that he will move forward with an attachment in
committee if he has the votes.
Murphy has long said he has the 217 votes necessary for repeal in the House and Hill insiders have said for weeks that Levin is one to two votes away from the 15 needed to attach the measure in committee.
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