Drive to Repeal 'Don't Ask' Policy All but Lost for Now

[bijou]

The drive in Congress to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy appears all but lost for the foreseeable future, with action unlikely this year and even less likely once Republicans take charge of the House in January.

President Barack Obama has repeatedly said he wants to overturn the policy, which bans gays from serving openly in the armed forces. Advocates on both sides believed the issue had a chance of coming up in this month's post-election session of Congress. Now that looks unlikely.

Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and John McCain of Arizona, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are in talks on stripping the proposed repeal and other controversial provisions from a broader defense bill, leaving the repeal with no legislative vehicle to carry it. With a repeal attached, and amid Republican complaints over the terms of the debate, the defense bill had failed to win the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate in September. ...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703856504575600851961320666.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Eupher]

That's fine, but when you have activist judges who ORDER DoD to begin accepting queers and rugmunchers into the service, hey, that makes what Congress might do rather superfluous, doesn't it?

Yeah, I know, DoJ requested an injunction or appeal, which was granted, but you've still got judges who are throwing their weight around and DoD doesn't appear to be fighting it to any great degree.