Thursday, December 16, 2010

Breaking: Reid Files Cloture on DADT- Vote Scheduled for Saturday.

Many of us in Hampton Roads with its thousands of gays in the military have been fretfully waiting to see what will happen to the stand alone DADT repeal bill in the Senate now that the House has passed the measure by a wide measure. Now, Harry Reid has filed for cloture - the process to kill filibuster attempts - and has said a vote will occur on Saturday. The Christianists will be going berserk, so it is important that U.S. readers call their senators and reaffirm that DADT repeal must be passed. Here are highlights first from from Pam's House Blend and then Politico:
*
Movement on DADT repeal is in the air and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid not long ago filed cloture on the stand-alone DADT repeal bill passed on Wednesday by the House and the DREAM Act. The cloture vote will be held on Saturday.
*
And here's the Politico quote:
*
REID: I'm going to file cloture tonight on the DREAM Act, we're going to have a vote on that Saturday morning fairly early. We're going to have a cloture vote tonight on Don't Ask, Don't Tell- oh, not a cloture vote, I'm going to file cloture on it tonight. Those will be sequenced for Saturday, whenever we get to them. Following that, I was told by a number of Republican Senators that they need 6 or 7 days to offer amendment on the START treaty.
*
While repeal of DADT will not result in thousands of openly gay members of the military in this area overnight, it will radically change the atmosphere which all too often has spilled into the private business sector as well. Moreover, repeal of DADT will deprive the Christianists of a huge symbolic tool in their quest to marginalize and stigmatize LGBT Americans. I pray that the repeal vote goes forward and is successful.

No comments: