If this report is true, you can count on the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers to be repealed by the end of this year, barring no major complications. CNN is reporting Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will vote for cloture on Saturday, bringing the total number of pro-repeal votes over the magic 60 mark — even without the waffling Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), who voted to move repeal to a full vote last week but is so far unwilling to say he’d do it again.
In addition to Snowe, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Scott Brown (MA) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) have committed to voting for cloture on the standalone DADT repeal bill passed by the House this week. With their votes added to the vast majority of Democratic caucus (minus Joe Manchin [D-WV] and maybe Conrad), the total vote for repeal is now above the 60 vote mark needed to deny opponents of repeal the chance to filibuster.
At a press conference earlier today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — who’s spearheading the effort to get repeal through the Senate — said that if the cloture vote passes quickly on Saturday morning, it’s possible that a final vote on the repeal measure could come later in the day. That means the bill could be on President Obama’s desk by Monday.
We’re working to get our own confirmation of Snowe’s position. But for now, it looks like the effort to get DADT repeal through the Senate is on the verge of succeeding.
