Posted on 12/18/2010 7:35:51 AM PST by Red Steel
The Senate will act on two important pieces of President Obama's progressive legislative agenda today: the DREAM Act and the repeal of the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers. By the end of the day, the path to final passage is expected to be set for DADT repeal, while DREAM is expected to languish for another Congress to pass.
Starting at around 10:30 this morning, the Senate will take up a cloture vote on DREAM. Cloture -- voted in by a 60-senator super majority -- is required to cut off debate and move a bill to final passage in the Senate. DREAM, which would provide legal status for illegal immigrants who serve in the military or earn college degrees, is not expected to hit that mark, effectively scrapping the bill for the time being.
That will set the stage for a cloture vote on a standalone DADT repeal bill, which proponents say is destined for passage. That will be the first step toward ending the nearly two-decade practice of allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military, but not if anyone who works with them knows they're gay. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who has been the driving force behind lining up the votes for DADT repeal, says he has the 60 he needs and most observers expect there to be little drama today.
Lieberman and his allies in the Democratic caucus are expected to get help repealing DADT from at least four Republicans -- Sens. Scott Brown (MA), Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Olympia Snowe (ME). Most of the rest of the GOP caucus is expected to vote against it, though Lieberman said yesterday that the bill may pick up support from the GOP as it heads toward final passage.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) has not said whether he'll support the standalone bill -- and he voted against repeal the last time it came up, as part of a defense spending bill last week. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), who voted for cloture on the spending bill, has also not said how he'll vote. Proponents of repeal say they don't need either vote to win today.
Supposing cloture is reached (which, again, is all but a foregone conclusion according to supporters of repeal), a final vote on the bill to end DADT could come as early as today. More likely than not, however, 30 hours of final debate on the measure will be kicked off by the cloture vote. That puts a final repeal vote sometime late Sunday.
The House already passed its version of the standalone DADT repeal (as well as DREAM, for what it's worth) which means that if the Senate passes the repeal this weekend it will go straight to the president's desk for likely signature.
Stay tuned throughout the day for live updates on the happenings here on Capitol Hill.
I agree and have posted this 3 other times in the last 3 days:
Remember the movie "Miracle On 34th Street"?
The lawyer for Santa Claus argued and won the case for his "legitimacy" by showing the US Post Office (a branch of the US Gov't) "recognized" Santa as "legit" (with all the rights associated with it) by accepting and delivering his mail.
IMHO, this is ALL this repeal is about.
Once the US Military "recognizes" LGBT as "legit", they will HAVE to be officially recognized by the WHOLE US Gov't as legit,(states rights be damned), with all the heterosexual rights that go with it such as getting married, teaching Boy Scouts, being a priest , pastor, school teacher, etc, with all the "All Communist Lawyers Union" (ACLU) chomping at the bit to sue into oblivion anyone who denies the "rights" of these "newly Gov't recognized" groups.
And I expect the JAG ranks to become full of gays who will do everything to give homosexuals preferential treatment in the military.
I didn’t encourage, but he’s a strong-willed child. Asked him to wait until there were republicans in office to no avail.
My problem is that I pray all the time for their protection. But how will God hear my prayers for our nation when He sees our national sins before Him, in blatant rebellion, open defiance and incurring His righteous, just wrath?
There is no way to stop the repeal of DADT now unless you can change the minds of at least 12 Senators. This simply isn't going to be possible. My guess is on the actual vote even more Republicans will cross the aisle and vote to repeal DADT.
Gays in the military is about to be the law of the land.
If START passes, fundamentally we are finished as a Nation.
Two words - Bradley Manning: Poster Boy for DADT.
A slap in the face to our dedicated soldiers everywhere.
Yes, I'm afraid you're right. There will probably be a huge majority in favor of repealing DADT. It's hard to understand.
However, I'm betting that Lindsey Graham will vote against repeal. We'll see.
The left now controls the guns.
Homosexuals will have no problem pointing guns at citizens if their past conduct is an indicator.
Remember the wikileaks came from a homosexual infesting the military. Abu-Grab was from a homosexual commander.
How many of either sex have been sexually assaulted or harassed and cannot or do not report it, gay or straight. The laws should be there to protect NOT PROMOTE.
Yep!!!!
The deal is done, its now the Sodomites military.. All hail the pink commandos and the gay brigades.... the wild blue flaunters.... From the hills of San Francisco to the shores of lagunia beach the teabagers keep marching along....
God have mercy on us
the rinos will vote against because it is now a “safe vote”.
Time to primary the 2012 rinos.
Or anybody else's kids either! My calls might have been a tad more effective if I could have calmly voiced my opposition instead of SCREAMING!
This is indeed horrid, but DAMMIT, the GOOD GUYS will still outnumber the bad buys in the service!
Female Soldiers = ~ 40% Lesbos according to reports
Male Soldiers = ~ 2 to 4% Queer
It's all about the Lesbos!
Don’t rip my head off here, but isn’t it true that DADT has allowed gays to serve in the military all along? Won’t the difference now be the extent to which conduct that might have previously been limited becomes acceptable?
I don’t like it but I’m not seeing Armageddon on the horizon either. For those who do, please explain what is going to be so different going forward. And why the surveys I’ve heard about indicate the troops aren’t as vehemently against this as some of US are.
Thanks.
Your assessment is spot on! The freaks have now breached the gates and it's all downhill from here:(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.