Bloomberg reports today that Senate Democrats were thwarted in their pre-election bid to pass legislation allowing repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military. The 56-43 vote was short of the 60 needed to advance a defense measure containing the repeal.
President Barack Obama pledged in his January 2010 State of the Union address to lift the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, and the Defense Department is conducting a review of how ending the ban would be implemented. Reid, of Nevada, said the bill would repeal the ban if the president and Pentagon 'certify it will have no negative effect on the military,' Bloomberg reports.
Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, told Bloomberg that, while she supports lifting the ban, she opposed proceeding with the measure. She said Reid should allow Republicans to offer more amendments. 'If an individual is willing to put on the uniform of our country to be deployed in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan,' Americans should be expressing gratitude, 'not trying to exclude them from serving,' Collins told Bloomberg. For more, check out the Bloomberg piece.
