Barney Frank: DADT Repeal coming next year. [View All]

[Clio the Leo]

Says that the WH has been committed to doing this from the jump. The idea being to put it in a defense authorization bill that the GOP will not want to oppose (as opposed to making it an autonomous bill that offers no incentive for its opponents.) It puts those who'd want to retain DADT between a rock in a hard place. If they OPPOSE this, they must also oppose "supporting" the troops by not voting to fund them armor and supplies. Democratic opponents could then, on the campaign trail, say, "Rep. So and So actually voted AGAINST aid to our boys and girls fighting over seas!"

DADT Likely To Be Part of Defense Bill

By Kerry Eleveld
Repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” will likely be included as part of next year’s Department of Defense authorization bill in both chambers of Congress, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) said Wednesday.

“Military issues are always done as part of the overall authorization bill,” Frank said, insisting that this has been the strategy for overturning the policy all along. “'Don’t ask, don’t tell' was always going to be part of the military authorization.”

Frank said he has been in direct communication with the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and other Congressional leaders about the strategy for ending the 1993 ban on gays serving openly in the military.

Though some moderate Democrats have recently expressed concern about repealing the policy during a midterm election year, Frank said resolve at the White House has never wavered. “The Administration is totally committed to this and has been from the beginning,” he said.

Anecdotally, Frank recalled an incident earlier this year when Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a statement to reporters suggesting that repeal was still an open question.

“There was a point where Gates said, ‘If we repeal don’t ask, don’t tell,’ -- and the next day he said, ‘When we repeal don’t ask, don’t tell,’” said Frank. “That’s because Rahm called him up. The White House has been consistently committed.”

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2009/11/11/DADT_Likely_To_Be_Part_of_Defense_Bill/