President Obama would be willing to veto the defense authorization bill — even if it includes a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — if it also includes money for planes the military doesn’t want, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
Gates, during an interview on Fox News Sunday, said he thinks the president would veto the bill if it includes money for the the C-17 cargo plane or an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which the military doesn’t want.
“As I told the Senate Appropriations Committee, the defense subcommittee, this week, it would be a very serious mistake to believe that the president would not veto a bill that has the C-17 or the alternative engine in it just because it had other provisions that the president and the administration want,” Gates said. Asked if he thought the president would veto the bill even if it meant vetoing DADT repeal, Gates said, “I think so.”
A repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the 17-year-old military policy banning openly gay men and women from serving, has been included in the defense authorization bill on both the House and Senate sides. The bill must now go through conference committee.
Obama supports repeal. But he has also threatened to veto a bill that includes funding for the unwanted programs.
Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, supports the cargo plane and the alternative engine, and opposes DADT repeal. He’s dared Obama to veto the bill.
“It’s rather interesting, because there’s an item in the bill called ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ that the president thinks keenly strong about. Now will he veto a bill that has that in it?,” Skelton said earlier this month. “I’m sure that goes through the creases of his mind.”
