Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) promised the filibuster ahead of the vote. | Photo by John Shinkle | REUTERS Senate GOP blocks 'don't ask' repeal

An effort to repeal the military’s “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, which bans openly gay men and women from serving in the armed forces, went down to defeat Tuesday afternoon, with Senate Democrats and Republicans unable to move past a procedural-vote impasse.

In the face of a promised filibuster by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Democrats could not convince a single GOP senator to cross over and provide the 60th vote needed to begin debate on a defense spending bill that included the repeal measure. The vote to open debate failed, 56-43, as Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) joined Republicans to block the bill from moving forward. ( See: 'Don't ask' vote hangs on moderates)


That effectively scuttled what advocates viewed as their best hope of ending the policy, enacted in 1993 under President Bill Clinton. Congressional aides and lobbyists following the issue said repeal could face even longer odds during a lame-duck session or in the next Congress, where Republicans are expected to win a number of seats and gain more control of the legislative agenda.

The high-profile collapse of what would have been a landmark bill triggered a round of second-guessing and recriminations from repeal proponents. Their main targets: President Barack Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and leaders of gay rights organizations who have helped set strategy for repeal efforts. ( See: Lobbies ready final 'Don't ask' push)

In the last few days, as the likelihood of defeat became apparent, some repeal advocates also blamed Republican obstructionism, but most said the president didn’t work hard enough to keep his campaign promise of repeal, and said Reid erred by rejecting Republican requests to allow the GOP to offer amendments to the bill.

“"There is a tremendous frustration on the part of many involved," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. "We hear all the time about procedural hurdles that Republicans want to throw into this process."

Aubrey Sarvis of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, held out hope that the Senate would act after the mid-term elections.

“Time is the enemy here. We now have no choice but to look to the lame duck session where we’ll have a slim shot,” Sarvis said. “The Senate absolutely must schedule a vote in December when cooler heads and common sense are more likely to prevail once midterm elections are behind us.”

Some prominent advocates of repeal scolded McCain and Republicans for their role in the filibuster, but some strategists said Obama, gay rights groups and lawmakers had been too deferential to elements in the military who wanted to slow-walk any change to the policy. ( See: GOP hits Dems over 'Don't ask' on defense bill)

“This is the result of an across-the-board failure of leadership by the president, the Pentagon and the Congress,” said Richard Socarides, who advised Clinton on gay issues. “Delaying repeal for another pentagon study was exactly the wrong strategy and played right into the hands of entrenched military interests opposed to open service now as they were in 1993.”

Others faulted Obama for being largely absent from the debate.

“Where is he?” prominent gay author Michelangelo Signorile wrote on his Twitter feed.

“We haven’t noticed any activism on this issue out of the White House at all,” said Alexander Nicholson of Servicemembers United. “It just goes to show what we’ve suspected all along: the White House never supported moving forward on this issue…..and was backed into a corner and jumped on the train as it was leaving the station.”



Nicholson also said Reid blundered when he refused to allow Republicans free rein to amend the bill.

“That blew the votes we had lined up,” Nicholson said. “We’re certainly disappointed [Republican senators] didn’t break ranks with their party [but] Sen. Reid made it much harder for them to do the right thing.”

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, rejected allegations that the majority leader had dragged his feet on the bill. Manley noted Reid had brought the measure before the Senate earlier in the year but Republicans objected.

Amidst the recriminations and second-guessing, Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest gay rights advocacy group – adopted a more optimistic note. It defended Reid’s strategy and looked to the lame-duck session as a strong possibility to have the law repealed.

“We are in fact quite bullish that it can get done in the lame duck. It has to get done,” said HRC spokesman Fred Sainz. “Today’s loss was because of a lack of time on the amendments process. Senator Reid has no way to get the bill off the floor if he didn’t limit the number of amendments. We are very hopeful that both parties can find a way to introduce amendments and get repeal passed.”

Still, some advocates began pressing the White House for Plan B: an executive order ending discharges under the existing “don’t ask” policy. But the White House and other administration officials have said an order would be illegal under the law Congress passed 17 years ago.

Ahead of the critical vote Tuesday, advocates of ending the ban on openly gay service members considered Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who supports repeal, their best hope of overcoming a filibuster. But Collins said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning that she would not vote to take up the underlying defense bill unless it was open to all amendments senators want to offer.

“There are many controversial issues in this bill. They deserve to have civil, fair and open debate on the Senate floor,” Collins said.

“I cannot vote to proceed to this bill under a situation that is going to shut down the debate and preclude Republican amendments. That, too, is not fair,” Collins said. “Now is not the time to play politics simply because an election is looming in a few weeks.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), called Collins’s concerns “very legitimate,” but stopped short of endorsing the idea of a bill open to any amendment by Republicans. ( See: Levin backs strikes inside Pakistan)

Levin said, however, that Reid was open to amendments beyond three major ones he has signaled a willingness to hold votes on: a measure to strike the “don’t ask” repeal, another to add legislation to legalize illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and attend college or serve in the military, and another measure to end the Senate practice of secret holds on legislation and nominations.

“Other amendments beside the ones [Reid] has talked about will be in order,” Levin said. “The majority leader has said that he is more than willing to engage in that process.”

Levin said Collins and other Republicans should allow the bill to come to the floor and invoke their right to block a final vote on it if they feel that debate has been stifled.

“The time to determine whether or not there’s been adequate opportunity to debate the bill is after you’ve had an opportunity to debate the bill,” Levin said. “There’s plenty of leverage to stop a bill from passing.”

Even as she contributed to blocking progress toward repeal Tuesday, Collins underscored that she still supports doing away with the ban on gays in the military.

“It should be repealed,” Collins said. “My view is our armed services should welcome the service of any qualified individual who is capable of serving our country…..We should be expressing our gratitude to those individuals not trying to exclude them from service or expel them from the force.”

“I find myself on the horns of a dilemma,” Collins said as she publicly pleaded with Reid to reconsider his stance on amendments.

Gay rights advocates said the Senate vote virtually extinguished the prospect for repeal of the “don’t ask” policy in this Congress. Time will be short in a lame-duck session after the election and some senators may be reluctant to take up significant legislation. With most analysts predicting that Democrats could lose control of the House and possibly the Senate, repeal seems unlikely in the next Congress as well.

Kicking off debate on the Senate floor Tuesday, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) again accused Democrats of “putting on a show” to appeal to special-interest groups before the November midterm elections. ( See: Big hole in GOP health repeal plan)

The $726 billion bill, which outlines defense policies, requires a minimum of four to five weeks of debate, McConnell said, and should not include controversial provisions like the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal or an immigration measure known as the DREAM Act that would legalize immigrants who attend college or join the military after coming to the U.S. illegally as children.

“They want to use this week for a political exercise. They want to weigh this bill down with controversy in a transparent attempt to show their special interest groups that they haven’t forgotten about them ahead of the election,” McConnell said.

“This is not a serious exercise. It’s a show,” he added. “And it’s because of shows like this that our [Democratic] friends have lost credibility with the public.”

Added McCain: “One can only draw the conclusion that this is all about elections and not about the welfare morale and battle effectiveness of our men and women who are laying it on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan today.”

Reid clarified that the bill would not technically repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The relevant provision would overturn the ban on gays openly serving in the military if the president, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs chairman certify that an internal study concluded that repeal would not adversely impact troop readiness or morale.

“Some are saying this bill that came out of the committee repeals ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Reid said. “It is not repealed in the bill.”

Reid joined Republicans in voting against the motion to break the filibuster in order to preserve his procedural right to take up the measure again later in the year.