Posted on 12/16/2010 8:34:49 AM PST by SeekAndFind
ABC News reports that Scott Brown has announced that he will support a stand-alone repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” ending the expulsion of gay and lesbian troops from the military. Brown’s decision gives Harry Reid 61 votes, enough to pass a cloture vote for the policy, and one final hurrah for the Democratic-controlled 111th Session — if he can fit it into the schedule:
Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown today voiced his support for a stand-alone repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, bringing the bill one vote over the 60-vote threshold that it will need to reach if and when the Senate votes on the measure in the coming weeks.
“Sen. Brown accepts the Pentagon’s recommendation to repeal the policy after proper preparations have been completed. If and when a clean repeal bill comes up for a vote, he will support it,” said Brown spokesperson Gail Gitcho.
Brown’s backing means that – on paper – supporters of the repeal have61 senators in favor of the bill. On Wednesday Republicans Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lisa Murkowski both announced their support for the stand-alone repeal. The House passed the clean repeal on Wednesday and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has vowed to bring it to a vote in the Senate before the end of the year.
However, Reid has warned that bringing the bill to a vote in the Senate is not an issue of support, but rather of time. With just over a week before Christmas, the Senate is only now kicking off debate on the START nuclear treaty and a massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. It will likely be early next week before the Senate wraps up work on those two measures – and numerous GOP senators have voiced stern opposition to both bills, preferring instead to fund the government into early next year and go home for the holidays. That leaves little time for the Senate to pass the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal.
Brown voted against the military appropriations bill that contained a DADT repeal last week, objecting to a jam-down of a massive spending bill without sufficient debate or amendment opportunities. Two other Republicans that support a repeal, Olympia Snowe and Lisa Murkowski, voted no on the same grounds. A stand-alone bill will avoid those issues and allow the three to switch votes and support repeal, a position publicly held or at least considered by all three prior to the lame-duck session.
The Senate has already passed the tax deal, which was the line drawn in the sand by the GOP at the start of the post-midterm session. Brown can therefore vote for cloture on this measure without violating the earlier pledge, even if Congress hasn’t addressed the budget with a shutdown date rapidly approaching. The GOP wants a continuing resolution anyway rather than an omnibus spending bill completing the FY2011 budget.
Reid, though, has already started debate on START, and still has to handle the budget this week as well. He’s trying to double-track the two efforts, but Jim DeMint has threatened to obstruct if Reid tries a jam-down on START. If DADT doesn’t come up in this session, it will have to be passed again in a Republican House after January, and that may be a problem with the GOP holding a 48-seat majority in the lower chamber. Still, the threat of court action that would immediately impose a repeal rather than an orderly transition may move John Boehner to allow a vote without whipping the caucus early in the next session.
No.
Why is this NOT a surprise?
I’ve always known this FN RINO would screw us in the end..
10 years of that and the military will be nothing more than a social program and about as effective as a UN peacekeeping operation.
{this is me shaking my head}
And I contributed to this RINO’s campaign...I’m gonna get my money back from the traitorous @$$h0!e.
Just think, Brown can be the first pin up boy in barracks around the world.
Hell, Harry Reid might as well put cap and trade back on the table since McConnell and crew aren’t going to do anything to stop him...
The tree of liberty needs watering.
(WP report from the Republican 2006 LAME-duck)
***
Congress will convene on Tuesday for what some fear will be the lamest of lame-duck sessions, and GOP leaders have decided to take a minimalist approach before turning over the reins of power to the Democrats. Rather than a final surge of legislative activity, Congress will probably wrap up things after a single, short week of work. They have even decided to punt decisions on annual government spending measures to the Democrats next year.
“There is a lot of battle fatigue among members, probably on both sides of the aisle,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), usually a reliable conservative firebrand. “Contrary to popular belief, members of Congress are human beings. They have a certain shelf life and a certain amount of energy to be drawn on. We’re tired.”
Anguished over the Democrats’ victory on Nov. 7 and the tumult that has followed, GOP lawmakers want to get out of town. One senior Senate Republican aide called hopes for substantive legislation “delusional.”
Much of the problem is as prosaic as office space, GOP aides said. Lawmakers were forced to vacate their offices on Friday, and few of them want to hang around Washington with no place to sit. Retiring House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) got angry during a meeting of committee chairmen, demanding to know how he was supposed to complete work on the business tax extension bill without an office, according to one GOP aide present in the meeting.
If Brown thinks this will save him from an all-out challenge from the Massachusett’s democrats, he’s delusional.
What a moron.
I am sure the multitude of idiots that voted for this RINO are proud.....no doubt they will be the same one’s backing Romney for POTUS in 2012.....=.=
Betcha enlistments drop.
Obama/Gates legacy.
Nice pun.................
Brown is going to be Romney’s running mate if Fudgeboy gets the nomination.
If Brown thinks this will save his seat in the next election, he is sadly mistaken.
Okay so what R’s voted yes?
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