DADT: President And Senate Ignore GOP House As It Tries To Stall Repeal
In a clear effort to stall repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, twenty-three Republican members of the 435 member U.S. House of Representatives sent President Obama a letter Thursday asking that he delay certification of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) to allow Congress time to “review.” But their efforts are clearly in vain, as they are all but powerless now to stop the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Despite the fact that the House included three anti-gay amendments in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Senate Armed Services Committee just elected to remove them, and no anti-gay amendments are expected to be in the final version of the NDAA when it goes to President Obama’s desk, once it passes the Senate.
“As predicted, the Senate Armed Services Committee has remained focused on serious military issues and has refused to waste time and taxpayer money trying to delay or stop the repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law,†said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United. “The leader of last year’s efforts to keep the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law on the books sits on this committee, yet no one even tried to introduce a companion amendment to the ridiculous House amendments. This just goes to show that this debate is settled and that Congress needs to focus on the serious issues of the day instead of being distracted by Congressman Duncan Hunter’s circus sideshow over in the House.â€
Nicholson notes that the “House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, passed on May 26, contained an amendment introduced by Congressman Duncan Hunter (CA-52) that would delay certification of the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†law, and other amendments that would restate and expand the Defense of Marriage Act. The new Senate Armed Services Committee markup would also repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice – the military’s outdated sodomy law.”
Of the 240 Republican members of the House, it is rather embarrassing that Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was able to organize less than ten percent of his colleagues to put their names on a letter, not in the interest of national defense, but clearly in the interest of upholding bigotry and animus.
“Given the necessity for congressional review, which has been limited to this point, we respectfully request that you refrain from transmitting certification until Congress has had sufficient time to review pending legislative matters of policy and law,† the Washington Blade reports the letter states.
“Leading the group of U.S. House members who signed the letter is Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who amended pending defense budget legislation to expand the certification requirement needed for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†repeal and potentially disrupt the implementation of open service.
“Others among the 23 signers of the letter are Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), chair of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, as well as Reps. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), W. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) and Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.).”
“Merely providing ‘training and educational’ briefs to our service members is not enough to justify moving forward with certification when consequential policy and regulatory changes associated with implementation must be reviewed by Congress under its oversight function,†the letter states. “Until those policy changes have been delivered and reviewed by Congress, it would be irresponsible to proceed with the certification process.â€
Earlier this week Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he saw no reason why certification of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal couldn’t move forward this month, and have implementation complete by the end of September.
In another development of note, the Senate Armed Service Committee’s press release on the NDAA states that the bill “Amends Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) relating to the offenses of rape, sexual assault, and other sexual misconduct, to create three separate articles of the UCMJ to correct deficiencies in existing law.”
Earlier this year, as The New Civil Rights Movement reported, the Pentagon was sued in a rape and sexual assault class-action lawsuit. A bipartisan bill to support the 19,000 annual military victims of sexual assault in the United States Armed Forces was introduced in April.
No word yet on if that notation in the Senate press release relates specifically to those issues.
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Appearing late Saturday night on MSNBC after it was announced that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement “in principle’ on a budget deal, former GOP strategist Rick Wilson claimed this could be the beginning of the end for McCathy’s speakership.
Sitting in on a panel with guest host Michael Steele, Wilson suggested that McCarthy’s decision to compromise with the president to avoid a default that would spin the economy into chaos will not go over well with far-right members of his House caucus who could make a motion to “vacate the chair” to express their displeasure.
Asked by host Steel about what comes next, Wilson stated it was a win for the White House which will not make conservatives happy.
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“Great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative the past few weeks” the Lincoln Project founder began. “I think though we are now going to start the Kevin McCarthy death-clock. He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who probably burning up his phone no matter how good it is for the country not to default.”
“It’s not going to please the chaos caucus in the GOP,” he added.
Watch below or at the link:
News
Debt Ceiling: McCarthy Faces ‘Lingering Anger’ and a Possible Revolt as Far-Right House Members Start Issuing Threats
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to negotiate a deal to avoid a debt crisis, members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are growing furious with him over broken promises he made to them.
According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, with a slim GOP majority in the House, McCarthy is walking a tightrope to get a budget deal passed and may need help from House Democrats if members of his caucus refuse to go along with him.
As Benen points out, in order to win the speakership McCarthy agreed to an easier path for a motion to “vacate the chair” which could end his tenure as Speaker. That could come into play if the Freedom Caucus stages a revolt.
“… as the negotiations approach an apparent finish line, the House Republicans’ most radical faction is learning that it isn’t likely to get everything its members demanded — and for the Freedom Caucus, that’s not going to work,” he wrote in his MSNBC column.
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Citing a Washington Times report that stated, “[Freedom Caucus members] want everything from the debt limit bill passed by the House last month plus several new concessions from the White House,” Benen suggested far-right House Republicans are now issuing veiled threats.
In an interview, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated, “I am going to have to go have some blunt conversations with my colleagues and the leadership team. I don’t like the direction they are headed.”
With Politico reporting, “The [House Freedom Caucus] was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership,” Benen added, “If this is simply a matter of lingering ill-will from members who come to believe that GOP leaders ‘caved,’ the practical consequences might be limited. But let’s also not forget that McCarthy, while begging his own members for their support during his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, agreed to tweak the motion-to-vacate-the-chair rules, which at least in theory, would make it easier for angry House Republicans to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position.”
Adding the caveat that he is not predicting an imminent McCarthy ouster he added, “But if the scope of the Freedom Caucus’ discontent reaches a fever pitch, a hypothetical deal clears thanks to significant Democratic support, don’t be surprised if we all start hearing the phrase ‘vacate the chair” a lot more frequently.”
Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”
CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.
It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.
READ MORE: ‘Likely to Be Indicted Soon’: Trump Might Face Seven Different Felonies, Government Watchdog Says
According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.
Manhattan prosecutors disclosed to Trump a recording of him and a witness in his criminal case. pic.twitter.com/EIz3bvpEkj
— Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) May 26, 2023
Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.
See the discovery form above or at this link.
Image via Shutterstock
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