Battle Over Gay Ban Fate Grows

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on Wednesday released the text of a bill to fully repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rules that bar homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. military.

Lieberman's action came amid growing concerns by some Republican lawmakers over moving on repeal before the Pentagon has completed a study to determine what impact it would have on the force.

"Secretary [Robert] Gates said he would have this study done by the end of the year, so I have a goal to have Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed by the end of the year," Lieberman said.

The "Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010" was released to the press Wednesday only a few hours before a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from administration and military officials over the study ordered by Gates.

A top Republican on the committee, Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., said not so fast.

"Congress deserves to see from the services concrete, in-depth evidence that such a change would improve wartime military readiness in any measurable, significant way," he said in a statement.

Defense Department general counsel Jeh C. Johnson, co-chair of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Working Group, said the study will be submitted to Gates on Dec. 1. In addition, he said he will also have ready by March 19 a report on ways to make the existing law more flexible.

Gates directed the Pentagon in early February to find a way to make it more difficult for homosexuals to be booted from the service while Congress wrestles with the decision to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Suggesting that the rules could be applied "in a fairer manner," Gates said the regs could be tweaked while still working within the law.

Lieberman's bill not only would repeal the ban on gays and lesbians, it would establish a nondiscrimination policy in the U.S. code to make it impossible for any future president to reinstate "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by executive order.

The text of the bill was released to media Wednesday during a press conference with Lieberman and five of 12 senators who have signed on as co-sponsors, including Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo.; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill.

The bill is not likely to go to the floor until May, when the Senate begins the mark-up on the 2011 budget, Levin said.

"I know there are mixed feelings at the top ranks of the military," Lieberman said. "But if the ban is lifted, these same leaders will carry out the new law.  This is the code they live by, the oath they've taken. If Don't Ask, Don't Tell is repealed, their honor and duty will be to do everything they can to implement this in a smooth and effective way."

That was the same message offered by Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, when he was asked during the House subcommittee meeting if he foresaw problems in the military if the ban was repealed.

 "If the law changes, there's no doubt in my mind the leadership in DoD and the services will follow the law," he said. Carter serves with Johnson as co-chair of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell working group.

That study has already come under fire from opponents of repealing the ban.

Johnson, in response to concerns expressed by some on the subcommittee that the working group has a built-in bias for repeal, tried to assure members the group would approach its work objectively.

Ranking member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., said he was concerned the working group appointed by Gates would turn in a report focusing too strongly on the implications of dumping Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but not on two other issues included in its mandate: why current law harms readiness in any significant way and whether repealing the ban would improve readiness in any measureable way.

Gates has already said he wants the ban repealed, as has President Obama.

"If the study does not address these issues, then its overall credibility and usefulness for the congressional decision-making process will be significantly undermined," Wilson said.

McKeon of California, the top Republican of the HASC, told The Associated Press that many on the committee "have serious concerns with putting our men and women in uniform through such a divisive debate while they are fighting two wars."