Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell Hearing To Be Delayed Indefinitely

11/21/09-by Paula Brooks
Capitol Hill sources have confirmed to LGR this morning that a planned November hearing by the US Senate Armed Services Committee to consider ending a ban on gays serving openly in the US military is to be postponed indefinitely.

“Yes, we don’t know when that is going to happen,” said an aide from Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin’s office.

In October Levin had said that his committee would begin holding hearing in November and that he hoped to “to find a way to repeal the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” policy.

But, Levin said in an interview on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program, scheduled to air Sunday, the hearings on any possible repeal of “DADT” will likely happen next year.

President Obama, who has drawn a good deal of flack from gay rights’ groups for not taking steps to freeze or repeal the rule, has said the US Congress is the best venue for undoing the policy, which was crafted in 1993.

Levin’s staffer told us that the committee staff’s have been busy working on issues related to Afghanistan ahead of President Barack Obama’s decision on whether to send more troops. She also said that they have been busy addressing the aftermath of the recent shootings at Fort Hood.

According to the staffer, Levin also stressed in his Newsmakers interview, that the delay necessitated by current events should not be interpreted “as any effort to avoid the hearing” on the subject however. While giving no timetable for the hearings, Levin did say that the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act could be one of the vehicles to carry repeal legislation.

Both the White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are also backing the strategy of using next years defense authorization bill to change the policy on LGBT’s serving in the military according to Capitol Hill insiders.

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) had earlier this year considered offering an amendment to the 2010 Department of Defense authorization bill that would have suspended discharges, but later determined that she did not have the 60 votes necessary to pass the measure and pulled the amendment after Levin promised that the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings on DADT this fall.

No one at Gillibrand’s office could be reached for comment on the hearing delays.

About 13,000 US service members have been discharged under the policy since the policy began in 1993, and estimated costs through 2003 run at 95.4 million dollars in recruiting costs and 95.1 million in training replacements, according to the US Government Accountability Office.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Showdown Between Lawmakers + the Pentagon on DADT Will Get Us Nowhere (queerty.com)
• Senate Puts Off Action On ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ (huffingtonpost.com)