Senator Carl Levin, the Chair of the Armed Services Committee, is considering separating the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal bill from the larger National Defense Authorization Act.
Via Foreign Policy:
“I’m trying to get the bill through Congress. I’m the committee chairman for a 900 page bill. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is two pages of 900 pages. My focus is different from the media focus. I’m just trying to get a bill passed,” Levin told reporters at the Capitol building on Tuesday.
“While no final decisions have been made, Levin said one option was to separate the language on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” from the rest of the bill, and then making two separate efforts to pass the both pieces of legislation.
“I’m trying to get both done. And if I can’t get both done, I want to get one of them done,” Levin said.”
The Chairman is joining other Senators from both sides of the aisle in trying to get the results of the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” survey released before its December 1 due date. Some results have already been released, and are favorable to repeal efforts, despite the fact that Senator John McCain doesn’t agree with them.
“If Levin can get the survey quickly, he said, he will immediately hold hearings and call for a floor vote as soon as possible, but the Senate by then will be getting close to the Christmas recess. I want to take this a step at a time: I want to get the survey before any decisions are made. I want to hold hearings right immediately after we get the survey,” he said. “So for me, it’s taking those two steps before any of these other issues can be resolved.”
“Other issues, such as whether military hospitals can perform abortions, are also holding up the legislation, Levin said.”