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Democrat Counting On Lame-Duck Session To Pass DADT Repeal Despite Republican Obstructionism

08/20/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Apparently no one has informed Freshman Representative Mike Quigley of Illinois that the Republicans plan on making sure that nothing gets passed in the lame-duck session between the election and the start of the next Congress. Quigley is confident that Congress will be able to pass the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during that period.

“I’m more hopeful about the lame duck session. I have faith that we’re goingt o repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Quigley has said. It is believed, though, that the Defense Budget will be voted upon next month, likely towards the end of the month.

Republicans, afraid of losing the Christian Conservative vote, have objected to the repeal based upon the old saw of how it will disrupt unit cohesion. Neither the military nor the government have actually been able to prove that to be the case, and up to 75% of Americans support repeal of DADT, including many in the Republican base.

The compromise repeal language was voted into the Defense Authorization Bill, which is the budget for the Pentagon and the military. It is hard to justify filibustering or voting against it even though Senator John McCain has vowed to do so largely in part because he is still having a snit at losing the election and now opposes anything and everything that President Barack Obama stands for.

The GOP has continued to try to use the repeal of DADT and the legalization of same-sex marriage as platforms on which to run even as popular support for those change. Current polling shows a vast majority of Americans support the repeal of DADT and more Americans support same-sex marriage than ever before.

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