This week a procedural vote in the US Senate that would have opened debate on a bill that would repeal the US Armed Force’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy failed by four votes.
There were 56 Senators who voted to bring the issue up for debate on the floor of the Senate and in doing so limit debate on extraneous matters. However, the Democrats failed to convince Republican moderates from switching sides.
To move a bill forward in the Senate requires the implementation of a procedure called cloture. Cloture blocks unlimited debate of an issue, and is required to move any bill forward in the Senate. This is because the procedural rules of the Senate do not restrict the right of Senators to speak unlimitedly on any topic of their choosing, provided cloture was not evoked.
The lack of cloture will allow opponents of the DADT repeal to stall the progression of the defense authorization bill, which would end DADT by requesting more time to speak on the issue. Thus, for a debate on repeal to move forward the Senate must adopt cloture, as that act would allow Democratic leadership in the Senate to put the issue to a vote without interruption.
President Barack Obama has pledged to scrap DADT and in February of this year Defense Department officials at the Pentagon were tasked with creating a timetable and method to implement a removal of the DADT policy from the military.
Repealing DADT was a crucial campaign promise offered by President Obama and he had hoped to implement a repeal of DADT earlier this year. However, figures from the military establishment, Republicans, and moderate Democrats have joined forces to halt the repeal of DADT.
The most notable of the Democratic Senators that joined with the Republicans in blocking debate on the DADT repeal was Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) who will be up for reelection this November. Senator Lincoln faced a tough general election challenge in the form of Republican John Boozman, and many beltway observers have characterized Lincoln’s stance on DADT as a way of playing to the strong level of Tea Party Movement supporters in Arkansas.
On the Republican side, Senator Susan Collins (R-Me.) was expected to vote with the Democrats to prevent the Republicans from using a united membership of 41 seats to block a cloture motion. Collins’ along with her fellow Republican colleague from Maine, Olympia Snowe (R-Me.), are widely seen as being socially progressive on domestic issues and natural allies in the Democratic move to repeal DADT.
The sitting Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, as well as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, said they support the repeal of DADT but wish to go about the process slowly, as not to damage the morale.
Most telling of the Armed Forces’ hesitation, if not outright opposition to the repeal of DADT, is the testimony of President Obama’s nominee for Marine Corps Commandant, General James Amos. Before a Senate hearing, General Amos said that letting openly gay citizens serve in the Armed Forces would be damaging to unit morale.
“I’m concerned that a change now will serve as a distraction to Marines who are tightly focused at this point on combat operations in Afghanistan. In my personal view, the current law and associated policy have supported the unique requirements of the Marine Corps, and thus I do not recommend its repeal,” said General Amos.
The back and forth debate on repealing DADT is not new. In 1992, President Clinton wished to remove restrictions on gays openly serving in the military, however, in 1993 he was forced by Congress to make a compromise, which lead to the creation of the DADT policy.
As a result of the DADT policy it is estimated that around 10,500 members of the Armed Forces have been discharged for violating the policy.
With the Midterm Elections looming on the horizon and the threat of the Democrats losing their majority in Congress, it is unclear if a decision on the DADT policy will be rendered in the Senate before Election Day.