During his re-election bid this past November, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said that he supported the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and expressed concern about “changing the accommodations for troops if the policy changed.” But following the Pentagon’s review of the ban and the testimony of military leadership, Burr ultimately voted for final passage of repeal, even as he remained worried about lifting the measure during a period of war. “I feel that this policy is outdated and repeal is inevitable,” he said in a statement. “However, I remain convinced that the timing of this change is wrong, and making such a shift in policy at a time when we have troops deployed in active combat areas does not take into consideration the seriousness of the situation on the ground.”

Burr’s vote took repeal advocates and his conservative constituents by surprise. Qnotes, a North Carolina based newspaper, is reporting that the harshest remarks came from Mecklenburg County commissioner Bill James, who compared gay people to “sexual predators” and warned that Burr will pay a price for his vote:

“Homosexuals are sexual predators,” James wrote in one email from a string of several between county board members, Roberts and County Manager Harry Jones, and provided by James to qnotes. “Allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining US military readiness and effectiveness not the least of which is the current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share showers with those they are attracted to.”

James added, “The US Government would not allow Hetero men and women to share showers and other personal facilities yet the leading homosexual in Congress (Barney Frank) thinks it is OK for homosexuals to do so allowing enlisted men and women to fall prey to higher ranking or more powerful homosexuals who ogle them (or worse).” [...]

“I suspect Richard Burr will pay a high electoral price for his actions but whether it boots him from office next time is unknown,” James wrote. “I know I won’t be supporting him even if he does have an R after his name.”

This isn’t the first time James has relied on homophobic slurs, Qnotes reports: “He often uses derogatory language or slurs to describe LGBT people in debates or communication with fellow public officials and constituents. During debate last December on domestic partner benefits for county employees, James leaned over to his Democratic colleague, Vilma Leake, and called her son a ‘homo.’ Leake’s son died from AIDS in the 1990s.”

But while conservatives in North Carolina are only rhetorically condemning repeal, social activists in Virginia — whose two Democratic Senators also supported lifting the ban — are proposing a bill that would ban gays from serving in the Virginia National Guard. Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), commander in chief of the Guard, still supports DADT but said that the proposal is unconstitutional, since the “National Guard should follow the same rules as the rest of the military.”

Christmas came early for gay rights advocates when Congress repealed the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy last week, and President Obama signed it into law on Wednesday. The administration’s comments since the bill-signing, however, are providing even more hopeful signs that full equality will continue to make progress in the United States.

In a press conference on Wednesday, President Obama sounded a hopeful tone on LGBT rights. Though he has maintained that he favors civil unions but opposes same-sex marriage, Obama told reporters that his views on the subject “are constantly evolving” and it is an issue he will “continue to wrestle with going forward.” In an interview with The Advocate, Obama said he “strongly supports” repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, which permits states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in another state. He also called on Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against employees due to their sexual orientation.

Now, Vice President Biden is moving the administration’s stance even further. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos this morning, Biden declared that gay marriage is inevitable in the United States:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You cited earlier that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the president signed that. In his press conference afterward, he also dealt with the issue of gay marriage. It was remarkable, he actually said that his position was evolving, this is something he really struggles with. Where are you on that these days?

BIDEN: I think the country is evolving. I think there’s an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage. That is my view. But this is the president’s policy. But it is evolving. I think the country is evolving. I remember the first time he met with the Joint Chiefs, I was with him. He said, “gentleman, I want you to prepare now. I want to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” And so he prepared the ground so that it was so widely accepted as it is today by the military. And I think the same thing is happening across the country with regard to the issue of marriage.

Watch it (beginning at 5:36):

Biden’s belief that the country is evolving on same-sex marriage is backed up by the polls. Political statistician Nate Silver crunched the numbers and found that approval of gay marriage is shifting at an “accelerated pace.” Indeed, a CNN poll in August found an outright majority of Americans support same-sex marriage (though most polls find support currently in the mid-40s).

Many pundits view Obama and Biden’s recent comments on gay rights as the administration preparing for an eventual about-face on same-sex marriage. Politico’s Jonathan Martin tweeted on Wednesday, “Obama on gay marriage: ‘I struggle with this.’ Does anyone doubt that if he wins 2nd term, he’ll eventually flip?” Similarly, Stephanopoulos argued after Obama’s press conference, “[gay marriage] is something that he’s clearly laying the groundwork to move on.”

Cross-posted on ThinkProgress.

Yesterday, in a last minute effort to derail the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tried to attach an amendment to the stripped-down National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have required the Service Chiefs to certify that implementation did not compromise military readiness or unit cohesion. The amendment would have likely extended the current certification process — which already includes the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and President Obama — and undermined the intent of the legislation and the wishes of military leadership. From McConnell’s amendment:

Purpose: To include the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces in the certification required with respect to the repeal of the policy of the Department of Defense concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces. [...]

At the end of subtitle J of title V, add the following:
SEC. 597. INCLUSION OF CHIEFS OF STAFF OF THE ARMED FORCES IN CERTIFICATION REQUIRED REGARDING REPEAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE POLICY CONCERNING HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE ARMED FORCES.

Republicans have long sought to include the Service Chiefs because as a group, the Chiefs are generally less sanguine about repeal than Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen. During their testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in early December, two of the Service Chiefs endorsed the Pentagon Working Group’s recommendation to lift the ban, while two others had mixed reactions. Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps, has warned lawmakers that repeal could endanger the lives of Marines. Regardless of their views, however, all four Chiefs said they trusted Gates to address their concerns before eliminating the policy and warned Republicans that expanding the certification process could undermine the chain of command:

Senator THUNE: Do you believe that the implementing legislation, if in fact this moves forward, should allow for the chiefs, the servicemembers, any of you, to certify? [...]

General CASEY: Senator, as I said to Senator Lieberman, I am very comfortable with my ability to provide input to Secretary Gates and to the Chairman that will be listened to and considered. So you could put it in there, but I don’t think it’s necessary. [...] It might take it up a notch. But believe me, I will make sure that my views are heard. The other thing. If you put that into the law, I think it undercuts the Goldwater-Nichols, that we’ve been trying to put the Chairman as the principal provider of military advice. So that’s something for the committee to consider.

Senator THUNE. Anybody else care to comment on that?

Admiral ROUGHEAD. Sir, I’m very comfortable with the access and the input that we’ve had. In fact, as the report came along I could see the changes that we were recommending. So I have no concerns whatsoever about my advice not being heard.

Watch it around 4:30:

Sources close to the negotiations say that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) objected to McConnell’s amendment and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also opposed the measure.

Moments ago, by a 65-31 vote, the Senate acted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the policy banning gays from openly serving in the military. The same six GOP senators who broke with their party during the cloture vote earlier today also voted for repeal: Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, George Voinovich, and Mark Kirk. Two more Republicans — John Ensign and Richard Burr — joined with Democrats in final passage.

Earlier this week, the House had passed the same legislation by 250-175 vote. More than 14,000 servicemembers have been dismissed because of the DADT policy.

For many Democrats, including President Obama, today’s final passage (and the signing of the bill, which will occur in the near future) marks the fulfillment of a promise that they made repeatedly. In a speech to the Human Rights Campaign in October, Obama said, “I will end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That’s my commitment to you.”

And in perhaps the most memorable moment of the Netroots Nation liberal bloggers conference this past July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was presented with Lt. Dan Choi’s graduation ring from West Point. Choi, a prominent DADT repeal advocate and Arabic-speaking linguist, was discharged from the military after he came out as gay on The Rachel Maddow Show. At the time, Reid said he would return Choi’s ring when DADT repeal is signed. “When we get it passed, you’ll take it back, right?” Reid said to Choi. “I sure will, but I’m going to hold you accountable,” Choi responded. Watch it:

Cross-posted on ThinkProgress.

Moments ago, in a vote of 63-33 the Senate invoked cloture on a bill to repeal the 17-year-old Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, paving the way for final passage in the coming days. The House passed the measure on Wednesday.

Democrats delivered eloquent speeches in support of open service. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) said, “I’m here because men and women wearing the uniform of the United States who are gay and lesbian have died for this country, because gay and lesbian men and women wearing the uniform of this country have their lives on the line right now in Afghanistan and Iraq and other places for this country.” Immediately before the vote, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), who has been the strongest advocate of repeal in the Senate, urged his colleagues to repeal the ban, saying “We’ve come to a point in our history, I hope, where neither race nor religion, ethnicity, or gender, or sexual orientation should deprive Americans of serving the country as the patriots they are.”

Throughout the debate, Republicans cherry picked statistics from the Pentagon report, complained about the process of bringing the measure to the floor and relied on folksy sayings like, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to make their case for preserving the policy. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — the biggest supporter of the policy — even conceded that Democrats probably had the votes to pass the measure, before launching into a an awkward condemnation of liberal “bastions and Georgetown cocktail parties.” Watch a compilation:

Six Republicans, including Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), George Voinovich (R-OH), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) all voted for the measure. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — the only Democrat to support the Republican filibuster of the measure earlier this month — did not vote.

This afternoon, as momentum began to build for repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) threatened that if Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) brings up a vote to repeal the ban, Republicans would not support ratification of the New START treaty. Referring to DADT a “partisan” and “political” issue, Corker accused Reid of poisoning the well with Democratic “campaign promises” to “accommodate activist groups”:

CORKER: What’s happened is it’s poisoning the well on this debate, on something that’s very, very important….I’m just hoping that saner minds will prevail and that these issues that have been brought forth that are absolutely partisan, political, issues, brought forth to basically accommodate activist groups around this country. I’m hoping that those will be taken down or else I don’t think the future of the START treaty over the next several days is going to be successful, based on what I’m watching.

Watch it:

Other Republican Senators — including McCain and Graham — have privately hinted that they would oppose ratifying the treaty if the Senate voted on DADT, but Corker is the first lawmaker to publicly threaten to walk away from the measure. Last night, Reid filed cloture on DADT and DREAM and promised to hold cloture votes on both measures on Saturday, before returning to the START treaty. Reid has also promised that he would accommodate six or seven days of debate on the measure.

Corker’s description of DADT as “partisan” is surprising in light of the increasing Republican support for the measure. Republican Senators Susan Collins (ME), Olympia Snowe (ME), Scott Brown (MA) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) have pledged to vote for the stand-alone repeal bill. The measure is also supported by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the overwhelming majority of the American people. A new Washington Post/ABC News poll released earlier this week found that 77% of Americans support ending DADT, the highest level of support since the poll began asking the question.

Earlier today, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sounded optimistic about repeal, but “tried to temper his enthusiasm during an off-camera press gaggle with reporters.” “I think it’s clear that there are enough votes to withstand a filibuster on repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Gibbs said, adding he would “not necessarily use the term ‘in the bag.’” The administration considers START a top priority. (H/T: @OKnox)

Last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to his daughter Meghan’s claim that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is the civil rights issue of her generation by reiterating the Marine Commandant’s opposition to repeal and suggesting that his son Jimmy McCain — who was a Marine — also opposes lifting the ban:

KING: You mentioned the commandant of the Marine Corps, Senator, I ask this next question not to be disrespectful, but because I know you as someone who takes the long trips, who does the research, who talks to the troops, as well as their bosses. You mentioned the commandant of the Marine Corps, he is against this. Your son has been in the Marines, he has served on the front lines. And this is a often a generational issue. Older Americans have a harder time with this than sometimes younger Americans. What does your son think about this?

MCCAIN: You know, my son is now out of the Marine Corps. The proudest moment of his life is having serving in the Marine Corps. His words to me, as so many thousands of others’ words have been to me, it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

KING: So he wants to keep it just in place as it is right now?

MCCAIN: They believe that it is working and I’m very reluctant to discuss my children’s views.

Watch it:

Interestingly, McCain didn’t say he would filibuster the measure, as his daughter predicted, although Republicans can still try to undermine the measure by calling for amendments or insisting that they will not vote for START if the DADT measure comes up for a vote. Supporters of repeal, however, as well as Senate aides, believe that they do have 60 votes to move forward.

In an appearance on Washington Journal this morning, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) disputed that notion, predicting that cloture would not be granted. “I think it will be at the top of the agenda when we come back in January,” he added.

Moments ago, citing a shortage of votes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unexpectedly pulled the omnibus bill off the floor and instead filed cloture on the stand-alone Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal passed by the House yesterday and the DREAM Act. Reid announced that he will hold a cloture vote on both measures on Saturday:

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.

Watch it:

Reid appears to be following the advise of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who earlier today suggested that the Senate vote on DADT before moving back START. “I believe instead of going back to the START treaty, we should go to the independent stand-alone repeal of don’t ask don’t tell Saturday night,” Lieberman said. “We can get it done by Monday, maybe Tuesday at the latest, and then go back to the START treaty.”

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent argued that this is the best case scenario for repealing the policy since “[i]f Reid waits until New START is done before holding the vote on DADT, Senators could start going home once the treaty is resolved, dooming DADT repeal.” “By contrast, if the DADT repeal vote is done first, no Senator will leave Washington before START is resolved. So doing DADT repeal first doesn’t imperil START.”

During this afternoon’s White House press briefing, the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld pressed Robert Gibbs on why the President has not been more bullish in pressing the Senate to pass repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell during the lame duck session. Arguing that Obama has used his bully pulpit to press Congress to act on START and has even appeared with Gen. Colin Powell to build support for the measure, Eleveld asked why the President has not adopted a similar tact to advocating for DADT repeal.

Gibbs refused to ask the question, instead reiterating the fact that Obama’s leadership has helped move the issue “to this point”:

ELEVELD: It’s looking like the votes can be there, but Senator Reid is sort of giving mixed signals about whether or not there will be time to do this and sort of how committed he seems to be to making it happen before the end of the year. You’ve said a number of times that this is important to the President. Why not put the President in front of the camera, why not let him use his bully pulpit to lobby for this getting done before Congress goes home? Because for instance with START, he was in front of the cameras with General Powell. [...]

GIBBS: Let’s be clear, we would not be at this point if it wasn’t for the President’s leadership in bringing this issue to the floor. You mentioned, I believe we have the votes….There is time to do this if there are those on the other side of the aisle that wish to get this done and it’s clear that whether it’s Senator Brown or Senator Murkowski or Senator Snowe or others, there is an effort to get this done if we have time to.

Watch it:

Indeed, the strongest direct advocate for holding a vote before the lame duck session appears to be Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) who today, urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold a vote on DADT repeal before START. “I believe instead of going back to the START treaty, we should go to the independent stand-alone repeal of don’t ask don’t tell Saturday night,” Lieberman said. “We can get it done by Monday, maybe Tuesday at the latest, and then go back to the START treaty.”

The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent argues that this is the best case scenario for repealing the policy since “[i]f Reid waits until New START is done before holding the vote on DADT, Senators could start going home once the treaty is resolved, dooming DADT repeal.” “By contrast, if the DADT repeal vote is done first, no Senator will leave Washington before START is resolved. So doing DADT repeal first doesn’t imperil START.”

But Reid and the White House seem more interested in passing START and at this point it doesn’t sound like Reid is on board with the Lieberman time frame. Here is how the Senate Majority Leader described the time frame in a press release issued yesterday: “We are very quickly running out of days in this Congress. The time for week-long negotiations on amendments and requests for days of debate is over. Republican Senators who favor repealing this discriminatory policy need to join with us now to stand against those who are trying to run out the clock on this Congress”

Meghan McCain predicted that her father Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — who was once open to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — would filibuster the measure if it ever comes before the Senate. Appearing on MSNBC’s ‘The Last Word’ with Lawrence O’Donnell, McCain said that while the Senator would definitely oppose the measure, the ban will eventually be overturned:

O’DONNELL: What do you think he will do with this bill coming to the Senate in its current form? Would he be part of a group that would try to prevent it from coming to a vote?

MCCAIN: Yeah, I do. I think my father will filibuster probably. And I think that this will probably pass, and I think gay marriage will pass in this country.

Watch it:

Sen. John McCain hasn’t yet announced how he would proceed once Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) brings the measure to the floor of the Senate, but during an appearance on Michael Medved’s radio show yesterday he again criticized Democrats for supposedly rushing repeal and cited the opinions of military leaders who agree with his position.

Supporter appear to have 60 votes to move the measure, however. Earlier today, a spokesperson for Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) announced that the he “accepts the Pentagon’s recommendation to repeal the policy after proper preparations have been completed” and “will support” “a clean repeal bill comes up for a vote.” Yesterday, Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) also pledged their support.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos — who has opposed repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — said that if Congress lifts the ban against open service and allows gays to serve without hiding their sexual orientation, the Marines could be so distracted that they would die in the line of duty. “I don’t want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda (hospital) with no legs,” he said, adding “mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines’ lives. That’s the currency of this fight.”

The following day, as the House of Representatives took up the measure to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Republicans clung on to Amos’ remarks as a reason to preserve the policy. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the lead opponent of repeal in the Senate, even referenced his remarks in a radio interview:

- REP. DUNCAN HUNTER JR. (R-CA): Let me just start out by quoting Gen. Amos a couple of days ago, who is the Commandant of the Marine Corps on this issue…

- REP. BUCK McKEON (R-CA): Just yesterday, Gen. Amos made clear just how strongly he feels about the threat that he feels repeal poses to Marines in combat…

- REP. PHIL GINGREY (R-GA): The Marine Corps Commandant state that repealing the 17-year-old ban could endanger troops and cost lives.

- SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): The Commandant of the Marine Corps is unalterably opposed to repeal. He again made a statement yesterday that it could cost the lives of Marines.

Watch the compilation:

Amanda Terkel reported that McKeon went even a step further during a press availability yesterday afternoon, saying that he applauded Amos “because he has the concerns of every Marine on his mind, and he represents…240,000 Marines.” “I applaud him for his courage to speak up, and if I were a Marine out there in the front, I would sure feel good about my commander, however I felt on the issue, because he’s looking out for them, and I think that’s his constitutional responsibility, but it’s a hard thing to do,” he said.

On Wednesday, Staff Sgt. Eric Alva — a gay Marine who lost his leg in Iraq and became the first Marine to be seriously injured in the war — took issue with Amos’ remarks, saying “He pretty much spit on me, my Purple Heart, and my 13 years of service.” “I wish Obama would invite [Amos] to the White House and fire his ass on the spot,” Alva told Andrew Harmon of The Advocate.

Moments ago, in a vote of 250 to 175 the House voted to approve a stand-alone measure to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, paving the way for Senate action in the coming weeks. Fifteen Republicans voted for repeal, 10 more than had supported May’s vote for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

This afternoon’s debate was also generally more reserved than when the House first approved DADT repeal, with Republicans hiding behind the process under which the motion came to the floor and cherry picking the most negative aspects of the Pentagon’s report on the policy. Interestingly, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) was the only member of the House Republican leadership to speak out against the policy.

During the debate’s more animated moments, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) spoke out against repeal by explaining that the military “isn’t the YMCA” and Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) warned that ending the policy would “drop the bomb of social experimentation” on the military. Rep. Louie Gohmet (R-TX) delivered the most impassioned speech against repeal, suggesting that the countries with open services were “near the end of their existence” and saying that homosexuality could be tolerated if gay people could control their hormones:

GOHMERT: To my friend who said that history would judge us poorly, I would submit if you would look thoroughly at history — and I’m not saying it’s cause and effect — but when militaries throughout history of the greatest nations in the world have adopted the policy that “fine for homosexuality to be overt” — you can keep it private and control your hormones fine, if you can’t, that’s fine too — they’re toward the end of their existence as a great nation.

Watch his remarks:

The bill will now move to the Senate as a privileged “message.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will be able to call up the measure without voting on a motion to proceed, saving some 30 hours of debate in the Senate, and will have to hold firm against Republican efforts to filibuster or attach amendments to the legislation. Under this scenario, the Senate bill would have to be identical to the House version or else it would have to return to the House for another vote. Reid has pledged to keep the Senate in session as long as possible to bring repeal to the floor, but his office has not yet issued a possible time frame for floor consideration. Minutes before the measure passed the House, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — who had filibustered the NDAA last week — issued a statement announcing that she would vote for repeal in the Senate. “After careful analysis of the comprehensive report compiled by the Department of Defense and thorough consideration of the testimony provided by the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the service chiefs, I support repeal of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law,” Snowe said in a statement

Meanwhile, a new Washington Post released earlier today found that 77% of Americans support ending DADT, the highest level of support since the Post and ABC began polling the policy.

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) practically guaranteed that he would bring Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to a vote before Congress adjourns, suggesting that the Senate would take up the measure once it passes in the House. Reid warned Republicans that he was prepared to stay in session until the new Congress is sworn in on January 4th “to complete the work we have to do here”:

REID: We have other things to do that are extremely important. We have to make sure we complete work on the DREAM Act….If the House completes work on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we’ll have to work on that….We are going to complete the work we have to do here. I want to get out of here just as soon as we can, but we’re not going to walk away from any of the work we have to do. Christmas is a week from Saturday, I understand that, but I hope the Republicans understand that also. Because we are going to complete our work no matter how long it takes in this Congress. We have to do the work of the American people…You know, there is still Congress after Christmas. So if the Republicans think that because they can stall and stall and stall that we take a break we’re through, we’re not through. Congress ends on January 4th. So we’re going to continue working on this stuff until we get it done.

Watch it:

The majority leader did not say precisely when he’ll bring the DADT measure to the floor — which, according to Lieberman has more than 60 votes — but said that it would be after the Senate ratifies the New START treaty, which could move as early as this evening.

His comments about the House voting first are also significant. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has promised to hold a vote on the House version of the stand-alone DADT tomorrow, which under one optimistic scenario, could send the bill to the Senate sometime this evening. Senate aides have indicated that the plan is to then send the bill to the upper chamber as a message that holds privileged status. Reid will be able to call up the measure without voting on a motion to proceed, saving some 30 hours of debate in the Senate, and will have to hold firm against Republican efforts to filibuster or attach amendments to the legislation. Under this scenario, the Senate bill would have to be identical to the House version or else it would have to return to the House for another vote.

The tactic is not without its problems. While Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Scott Brown (R-MA) are expected to vote for the bill, as Sam Stein points out, “Reid may have to fill the tree with amendments — thereby setting in stone how the debate process plays out. But if he does this without accommodating Republican requests, it could give senators the cover they need to oppose the measure on procedural grounds.”

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refused to directly condemn the Marine Commandant’s suggestion that repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would have the effect of killing Marines in the line of duty, saying simply that the Commandant’s views are “well known.” Earlier today, Gen. James Amos — who has publicly opposed lifting the ban — said in the context of repealing the policy, “I don’t want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda (hospital) with no legs.”

Pressed by the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld on whether Obama was worried about having his own appointee “constantly raising opposition to his own stated belief the the policy needed to be changed,” Gibbs simply reiterated the administration’s talking point on the issue:

GIBBS: I think the President’s views and the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff’s views and the Secretary of Defense’s views are fairly well known. I think the President as Commander in Chief has a strong viewpoint. I think backed up by the survey conducted by the Pentagon as to the attitude of the men and women in our military that this can be done in a way that strengthens our national security, preserves the best fighting force in the world, and most importantly, does away with a policy that he doesn’t think is just.

ELEVELD: I mean, the Commandant is continually challenging the assumptions of the Commander in Chief…

GIBBS: No, I mean, look, I think their views are very well known, just as the Commander in Chief’s views are very well known. I think if you look at the Commander in Chief, the head of the Pentagon, and the head of the Joint Chiefs, you’ll find unanimity in the belief that it’s time to do away with this policy and that’s exactly what the President is working to do.

Watch it:

Conversely, repeal advocates have strongly condemned Amos’ statement. “General Amos needs to fall in line and salute or resign now,” Aubrey Sarvis, Army veteran and executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement. “He implied that repeal will lead to Marines losing their legs in combat. Those fear tactics are not in the interest of any service member.” Alexander Nicholson of Servicemebers United also noted that Amos’ comment “reflects very poorly on DOD and on the administration.”

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos — who has opposed repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — suggested that if Congress lifts the ban against open service and allows gays to serve without hiding their sexual orientation, the Marines could be so distracted that they would die in the line of duty:

The chief of the US Marine Corps said Tuesday that ending a ban on openly gay troops in the military could jeopardize the lives of Marines in combat by undermining closely knit units.

General James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps and an opponent of lifting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” prohibition, cited a Pentagon study saying Marines fighting in Afghanistan were worried that permitting gays to serve openly could disrupt “unit cohesion.”

“When your life hangs on a line, on the intuitive behavior of the young man… who sits to your right and your left, you don’t want anything distracting you,” Amos told reporters at the Pentagon.

“I don’t want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda (hospital) with no legs,” he said.

He added that “mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines’ lives. That’s the currency of this fight.”

His comments were the toughest yet on the issue, after he testified at a congressional hearing that he opposed lifting the ban at a time of war.

Amos said Marines fighting in Afghanistan sent a “very strong message” in the Pentagon’s recent study, expressing opposition to the repealing the ban in an survey.

“I have to listen to that,” he said.

The study did reveal that Marines are most opposed to repealing the measure, but nowhere did it suggest that the distraction of gay servicemembers would have the effect of killing their straight counterparts. What it found was that 47.2% of Marines said a repeal of DADT would have a negative impact and were more likely to say their morale would be negatively affected by repeal than other Service members. Ninety-two percent of servicemembers also said they were fine with working with their gay colleagues, including 84% in Marine combat arms units.

As the study’s co-chairs explained during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month, the negative findings were not insurmountable, and that with the proper leadership and communication, the policy could be repealed without undermining unit cohesion. In fact, both Gates and Mullen argued that if Congress doesn’t move forward with repeal, the courts will likely rule the policy unconstitutional and force the military to end the ban without providing any time for a smooth implementation process.

The study’s co-chairs also explained that the Marines’ more negative reaction was partly the result of their relative inexperience with gay servicemembers. Here is how Army Gen. Carter F. Ham put it to me shortly after the report was released:

One of the factors that causes a difference in the Army and the Marine Corps combat arms responses when compared to the overall responses is that we find in those two communities, Army and Marine Corps combat arms, — and this is probably unsurprising — that those communities have lower rates of actual experience of having served alongside a gay or lesbian servicemember. They’re all male organizations. They are the youngest communities, if you will, within the military. So you know, it’s not really surprising that they have less actual experience serving with gay and lesbian servicemembers. We did find in the survey that there is a difference between servicemembers who have and those who have not served with gay and lesbian servicemembers. And I think this may be one of the significant contributors to the differences between combat arms responses and the force overall.

Amos should not be worried about the “distraction” of gay servicemembers. The real distraction is a policy which denies gay Marines the right to confide in their straight comrades as they’re dealing with the difficulties of deployment.

Editor’s note: A version of this post was prematurely published yesterday afternoon. We apologize for the confusion.

At a pen-pad briefing this morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) announced that Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) will introduce a stand-alone DADT repeal bill that he will co-sponsor and bring to the House floor in short order. The legislation will be identical to the measure offered by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) after the Senate failed to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act last week and will include the same repeal language contained in the NDAA, which passed the House in May.

While the exact process is still unclear, Politico’s Josh Gerstein reported yesterday that Democrats may be exploring different avenues for expediting the repeal process by moving the measure from one chamber to another. Other Democrats are suggesting that the House and Senate will still pass separate repeal bills. Last week, Washington Post’s Greg Sargent speculated on the following tactic:

Here’s yet another way DADT repeal could still happen: A Senate aide says one scenario being mulled would be to ask the House to pass repeal again and send the Senate a so-called “message” asking for a vote. That would circumvent various procedural hurdles. No idea if it will happen, but it’s a possibility.

However the Democrats decide to proceed, bringing up the measure in the House presents a real possibility for having a clear up or down vote on lifting the ban in the lame duck session. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sounded very optimistic about the bills’ chances in the lower chamber, saying “[a]n army of allies stands ready in the House to pass a standalone repeal of the discriminatory policy once the Senate acts.” In the Senate, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Scott Brown (R-MA) also hinted they could support a stand-alone measure.

Advocates of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t tell have long targeted Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) as a possible swing vote on overturning the policy and Lugar’s office had been telling me that the Senator was “leaning” towards supporting the measure if it came up for a vote under a fair process and after the New START treaty. But on Thursday, the Senator joined 38 other Republicans in voting against a motion to proceed to the measure.

Now, with the stand-alone repeal measure reaching 40 co-sponsors in the Senate, Lugar’s office has confirmed to me that the Senator is “sympathetic” to the new DADT repeal legislation and may be willing to vote for the measure if it is brought up under a “fair” process and voted on after START.

Lugar first announced his qualified endorsement Sunday night, after a speech at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana, in response to a student’s question about the policy. This afternoon, Lugar spokesperson Mark Helmke reiterated that the Senator’s vote would still depend on how the measure is brought up. Helmke also said that Lugar was willing to stay past Christmas to end the policy before the end of the year.

This afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs refused to say that President Obama would call on the Senate to stay in session until it brought up the stand-alone measure to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. In a series of passive replies to the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson and the Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld, Gibbs didn’t directly urge the Senate to consider the measure, but said, “our hope is that the Senate will take this up again and we’ll see this done by the time the year ends.” “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and DREAM, along with government funding, are all in a basket of issues that are likely to come after” START, he argued earlier in the press briefing.

Asked by Eleveld why Obama has pledged to stay in DC until the Senate passed START but not DADT, Gibbs replied that the President would wait for the Senate to adjourn before leaving. Gibbs also refused to say if the administration was considering alternatives to legislative repeal:

GIBBS: There is a whole host of important things, beyond the tax deal and START, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell being one of them, that the President believes can be dealt with before Congress leaves town.

ELEVELD: If the legislative effort fails, are there other options on the table? I mean it’s a distinct possibility now.

GIBBS: I should say this, I think it’s a distinct possibility that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed by the end of this year and that’s where our effort is focused.

Watch it:

While the administration isn’t publicly discussing other ways to end the ban, repeal advocates are. This morning, three former service members discharged under the policy filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California asking the court to “reinstate them on the basis of the ‘Witt standard,’ a legal threshold established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in 2008.”

On Sunday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) called on Obama to use his bully pulpit “and urge the Senate to stay in, right up to New Years.” “That’s the problem that I don’t see that kind of a willingness to fight that hard, where he will take that kind of a position and that’s what’s necessary,” Levin said. “The Senate and the House, these are tests of wills.”

Appearing on CSPAN’s Newsmakers this Sunday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) reiterated his pledge to stay in session after Christmas to give the Senate more time to consider end of year priorities like extending tax breaks for the middle class and passing the stand-alone Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal measure recently introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Levin also called on President Obama to use his bully pulpit to keep the Senate in town past the holidays, but lamented that he hasn’t seen “that kind of a willingness to fight that hard” from Obama:

LEVIN: One of the questions will be whether we stay long enough to get some of these things done and I hope we stay as long as we need. There are many days extra if we stay after Christmas, it adds a few days. It would add a few days, for instance, if we stayed in the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before Christmas. You can pick-up a few days, and if it will make a difference, and I think it can… I would hope we would take those few days and also to get Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell passed. [...]

The way I think the President needs to fight is to say that he is going to use all of the power he has of a bully pulpit and urge the Senate to stay in, right up to New Years….that’s the problem that I don’t see that kind of a willingness to fight that hard, where he will take that kind of a position and that’s what’s necessary. The Senate and the House, these are tests of wills.

Watch it:

Democratic Senate aides are telling the Washington Post that a vote on the stand-alone measure could come “late Tuesday or Wednesday, after senators vote to proceed with tax- cut legislation on Monday” but many are also conceding that there may not be enough time for the measure, since “senators also have to vote on a trillion-dollar government spending bill and may also consider the new START Treaty – a bill White House aides privately concede holds more priority.”

The White House expressed support for the stand-alone bill on Friday, but stopped short of calling on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to extend the session. “The president remains committed to seeing this repeal done before Congress leaves town this year,” said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who also promised Obama would remain engaged on the issue.

This morning, during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — the only Democrat to support a Republican filibuster of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — said he supported repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell but voted against it to allow the military to repeal the ban on its own timetable:

MANCHIN: Again, I was only here three weeks…didn’t know much about the issue. It’s something that probably will be, it needs to be repealed and it will be repealed. But I was voting, basically on timeliness. I sat on two meetings of armed services both telling me, ‘it should be on our time table, not legislative time table.’ So I voted to let the military have it on their timetable….I made a decision based on that. [...]

What they were saying was, ‘we got fronts, we got a war in Afghanistan, we got 50 percent of our troops deployed, can you not wait until we get out of this?’

Watch it:

During the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings, however, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen and the service chiefs all made the opposite argument: congressional repeal would allow the armed forces to implement the change on its own terms. If the Congress fails to act, however, a court ruling could force instantaneous change. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argued after the vote, “If they are unable to do that, then as I’ve indicated in testimony and talking with you all, my greatest worry will be that then we are at the mercy of the courts and all of the lack of predictability that that entails.” Gates described Judge Virginia Phillips’ injunction of DADT in October as a “wake-up call” that the law could be struck down immediately without giving the military time to prepare to implement repeal.

Manchin, who prior to the election promised to support the ban if “battlefield commanders can certify it doesn’t hurt unit cohesion,” has had a hard time explaining his position. Following the vote, Manchin issued a statement apologizing for his opposition, “I would like to make clear that my concern is not with the idea of repealing DADT, but rather an issue of timing,” he said. “I truly understand that my position will anger those who believe repeal should happen now and for that I sincerely apologize.”