The sooner the Administration decides what it is going to do on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), the better for all, especially our service members. Today, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, in a full page ad in the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call is urging the President to include repeal language in the Defense budget bill that he and his team are putting together right now for fiscal year 2011. You can see the ad here (PDF).
We are taking this step because we are convinced the President is unlikely to have such an opportunity again this term. This is the moment. If he fails to seize it, if he fails to urge Congress to join him in the fight, thousands of gay and lesbian service members most likely will have to serve under the DADT law for the entire four years of this Obama Administration. Many young LGBT service members will surely be fired, careers ruined.
Many of the provisions the Obama team is putting together now will eventually make their way into the Administration's Defense Department budget, which takes the largest slice of the entire federal budget. (For FY 2010 the Defense budget was $636.3 billion.) This is about our nation's military priorities and how we fund them, from sophisticated weapons systems to the manpower needs of the combat commanders that the President met with Monday and that he and Mrs. Obama hosted at a White House dinner last night. Big stuff.
Our nation's defense bill is one of the few each Congress must pass in each session. While many insiders in Washington are speculating on how many legislative initiatives the Obama White House can take on after health care is finally passed and before the window closes on new initiatives, one thing we can count on is the defense authorization bill's passing before this Congress leaves Washington for the midterm elections.
The first round of "posture" hearings will likely begin in early February in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). The Committee will want to hear about priorities from the top leaders of each branch of the services. In light of SASC Chairman Carl Levin's (D-Mich. ) commitment to address "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) this year, coupled with Senate Majority Leader Reid's earlier calls to the White House to send a repeal proposal to the Hill, the Administration understands that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is definitely coming up. But how they are going to handle it and what they plan to give the services to respond to questions from Congress are both unknowns, at least to me and to most of the Capitol Hill and DOD players we talk to.
The list of encouraging words the President has said is now quite long. At a fund-raising dinner just last October: "I will end 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' This is my commitment to you." At a White House reception in June he told the much decorated Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach, who still faces discharge under DADT, "We're going to get this done." During his presidential campaign he said he would be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights.
Where does ending DADT fall on the Obama Administration's priority list this year? President Clinton signed it into law, President Bush never even considered getting rid of it, but President Obama convinced many Americans that he was serious about killing it. I still believe the President wants to do this and do it right. The question is when.
Little is to be gained by sitting on the sidelines as defense hearings unfold in the two Armed Services Committees. If the President is going to lead on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell," one hopes he would want his Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to speak about it before the two congressional committees. In fact, until the President speaks the congressional committees are not likely to hear any breakthrough pronouncements on DADT. No one really expects Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen to get in front of the President on repeal.
President Obama should speak decisively and soon by following up on his October pledge to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." His defense budget will be the first opportunity in which he will actually have the appropriate legislative vehicle before him to make good on his words. There seems to be a growing expectation this year in Washington that the President may "do something on DADT." Let us hope that "something" doesn't turn out to be appointing a commission or a working group to study the matter for a year or two. That would be another way of kicking repeal down the road yet again, and it would be unacceptable.
What is needed now is bold Presidential leadership and a strong Congressional partnership. The American people are waiting and listening, and eager to help their President and Congress win this important fight against one of the last bastions of discrimination in our American democracy.