President Obama has been calling Senators on both sides of the debate over Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to urge them to vote for a repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay military service. Obama, who made repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell a highlight of his campaign and a policy aim after his State Of The Union address, has been a central part of the negotiations with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) to get to cloture on the defense spending bill that includes the DADT repeal and, TPM confirms, he’s been calling other senators on behalf of repeal as well.
“The President has been reaching out to Senators from both sides of the aisle to reiterate his desire to see Congress pass the National Defense Authorization Act, including a repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ during the lame duck,” White House spokesperson Shin Inouye told TPM.
A Democratic aide told TPM earlier today that Obama has made direct calls to Collins, who’s support for cloture Democrats say they need in order to move the defense bill to the next phase.
Inouye could not name other Senators Obama has called about DADT, or confirm when the calls were made.
A vote on DADT could come as early as tonight depending on the results of the negotiations between Collins, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Majority Leader Harry Reid.
