The White House today held a meeting on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, with congressional leaders and gay rights activists, an administration official confirms to TPM.
Congress is gearing up to vote on repealing the policy this week, according to several reports. The administration official said it is the White House’s “understanding that Congress is determined to act this week.”
“We’re learning more about this proposal now,” the official said.
The Advocate reports that, according to someone at today’s meeting, a possible deal would include repealing the policy this year, but leaving it up to the Department of Defense when and how to implement it.
The Advocate also reports that White House and Pentagon officials met with members of Congress today, including Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who have each introduced bills to repeal DADT, and Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
Gay rights activists have been pushing Congress to include repeal in the Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass bill which defines the military’s budget. The military, however, wants Congress to wait until it finishes a policy review in December.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled to begin markup on the bill this Wednesday. Levin supports repeal, and said he’d include it in the markup if he has the votes for it. It is not clear whether he does.
A spokesman for Levin could not confirm whether DADT repeal will come up for a vote.
The House Armed Services Committee held its markup of the bill last week, but didn’t include DADT repeal. Instead, the full House is expected to vote this week on a repeal bill introduced by Murphy.
The Hill reports that the Human Rights Campaign, a large gay rights organization, is expecting that vote on Thursday. The group is targeting six senators to get their votes: Republican Scott Brown and Democrats Ben Nelson, Robert Byrd, Bill Nelson, Evan Bayh and Jim Webb.
The gay groups’ desire to get repeal into the authorization act is at odds with the military. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen have warned Congress not to act until the Pentagon finishes a review of the policy — specifically, how best to implement repeal — due in December.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said last week that she expects that DADT, which prohibits openly gay men and women from serving in the military, “will be a memory come Christmas.”
President Obama last October promised the HRC that he would repeal DADT.
