Tag Archives: Senate

Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky ticks off the ways that GOP objections have been dispatched so far today.Read more Volsky’s analysis. Here’s his video recap.

Defense Secretary Gate and Admiral Mike Mullen appear today before the Senate Armed Services Committee. I’ll bump this video player to the top of the blog a few times as the hearings go on today. UPDATE: The hearing has concluded for today.

Simply brilliant. And not at all unrelated, Sanders is the only openly socialist member of Congress. We need 99 more of him. WATCH THIS.

Today all 42 GOP members of the Senate issued a letter declaring that not one single bill (including DADT) will be considered until Congress agrees to extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy. Because when you’re out of money, the thing to do is cut your income. And so much for yesterday’s bipartisan summit. “[W]e write to inform you …

Shortly before this appearance on MSNBC, the relatively unknown OutServe issued a press release announcing contact details for their 27 chapters around the world. “Making OutServe chapters available in these hopefully last critical weeks of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ debate will allow the media access to speak confidentially with gay and lesbian service members and regional OutServe leadership, who …

GOP closet case Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) said yesterday that there are not enough Senate votes for a repeal of DADT. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday the Senate likely doesn’t have enough Republican votes during Congress’ lame-duck session to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military. “I think in a lame-duck setting, ‘don’t ask, …

Today the Senate Armed Services Committee announced that hearings on the repeal of DADT will begin next week. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are expected to testify. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: In a notice, the committee announced it would hold hearings on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3. regarding the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, …

Igor Volsky has the details at Wonk Room: This afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs listed repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as a priority for the lame duck session after the Thanksgiving recess and reiterated the now oft-repeated warning that if Congress fails to lift the ban, the matter could be decided by the courts. “Do this legislatively, …

Last night Sen. Lisa Murkowski characterized her position on the repeal of DADT as “indeterminate” despite earlier reports from Alaskan media that she’d indicated she would support the repeal. The second clip from Rachel Maddow, which also talks about potential GOP support from Sen. Dick Lugar and Sen. Susan Collins, was recorded before Murkowski backtracked to CNN. The bottom clip …

This afternoon Sen. Joe Lieberman said that there are more than enough votes to repeal DADT in the Senate. Via Wonk Room: “I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared to take up the Defense authorization with the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ if only there will be a guarantee of a fair and open amendment …

The Wonk Room reports that the co-chair of the DADT survey today told Sen. Carl Levin that the survey will not be released in advance of its scheduled December 1st debut, despite all the leaks. Mr. Chairman, I think it will take until the first of December. The key factor remaining for us in the review group is to receive …

Senator-elect Mark Kirk (R-IL) will be seated on November 29th, putting him in the unique position of being able to vote on the repeal of DADT twice. Earlier this year as a House member, he infuriated LGBT supporters and reversed his previously pro-gay record by voting against the repeal, a move most said was a transparent attempt to pander votes …

We’re glad she beat that teabagger whackadoodle, but Sen. Lisa Murkowski still bobs and weaves under direct questioning like any typical Republican.

Interesting move. Certain to be filibustered by the GOP, I’m betting. The DREAM Act has been languishing in Congress for ten years thanks to Republican opposition.

Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly that President Obama has called Sen. Carl Levin to encourage him to fight efforts to strip the repeal of DADT from the defense authorization bill. This afternoon, White House spokesman Shin Inouye told Metro Weekly that President Obama had spoken with one of the Senate leaders of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal — Sen. …

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has become the first person elected to the Senate via a write-in campaign since SC Sen. Strom Thurmond did it 56 years ago. Alaska election officials declared Murkoswki the winner today after it became clear that her lead could not be overcome by the remaining uncounted ballots. Teabagger Joe Miller has threatened to sue for a recount, …

We don’t know what this is really about yet, but this just popped up on Politico. Two gay troops’ groups will announce today that they’d support breaking off DADT repeal if doing so would help the defense authorization act pass – but they’ll keep pushing for repeal in the lame-duck Congress, Morning Defense has learned. The statement from OutServe and …