DADT Showdown In Senate Tuesday

On Tuesday at 2:15pm EDT the United States Senate will have a cloture vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, S. 3454, which currently includes a provision which would lead to the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The legislation needs 60 votes to break a Republican-led filibuster, and prior to today, it was believed that those votes could come from numerous "moderate" Republican senators like Collins (R-ME), Snow (R-ME), Voinovich (R-OH), Brown (R-MA) and LeMieux (R-FL).

Today, Sen. Snowe announced she is supporting the filibuster:

“First and foremost, the Senate should have the ability to debate more than the three amendments the Majority Leader is allowing, especially as this bill is the largest discretionary authorization measure that Congress considers, that the bill describes the policies and programs that provide resources and direction to the nearly 2.4 million men and women of the military – active, reserve and civilians, including the courageous Americans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that two of the three amendments don’t even relate to the military. It is therefore imperative that Senate deliberations on the defense bill be conducted without limitations and in a manner that allows for the consideration of all related amendments that Senators may wish to offer.


“Moreover, as I have previously stated, given that the law implementing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has been in place for nearly 17 years, I agree that it is overdue for a thorough review. The question is, whether we should be voting on this issue before we have the benefit of the comprehensive review that President Obama’s Secretary of Defense ordered in March, to secure the input of our men and women in uniform during this time of war – as the Joint Chiefs of Staff from all of the services have requested prior to any vote. We should all have the opportunity to review that report which is to be completed on December 1, as we reevaluate this policy and the implementation of any new changes.”

The White House also released a statement:

“The National Defense Authorization Act is a good bill that is important for the overall health and well being of our forces, especially given the ongoing campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world,” White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said in a statement. “This legislation received bipartisan support in the House and in the Senate Armed Services Committee and the President hopes it receives similar bipartisan support in the Senate."

UPDATE 08:53AM 09/21/2010:
SLDN has published the following list of uncommitted Senators which should be contacted in the next four hours:

--George Lemieux (R-FL);
--Susan Collins (R-ME);
--Olympia Snowe (R-ME);
--Mark Pryor (D-Ark.);
--Richard Lugar (R-IN);
--Judd Gregg (R-NH);
--Jim Webb (D-VA);
--George Voinovich (R-OH);
--Kit Bond (R-MO);