Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) introduced the stand-alone bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell yesterday (S.4022) and expects Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to Rule 14 the measure, a process under which the bill would circumvent the Senate Armed Services Committee and move to the floor of the Senate. Then, the big challenge for Reid will be to find the right time (or time at all) to bring it all to a vote, extending the session past Christmas if necessary.

At their hastily-arranged press-conference following yesterday’s failed vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Lieberman and Collins criticized Reid for filing cloture without first reaching an agreement on process and considering the tax compromise. Lieberman announced the stand-alone measure — which is currently co-sponsored by Collins, Gillibrand, Udall (CO) — and re-counted this conversation with Reid:

LIEBERMAN: I informed Senator Reid during the vote on this motion that we were going to do that, and he said, ‘same language as in the defense authorization bill?’ I said ‘yes.’ He said, ‘put me down as a co-sponsor.’ I said, ‘Harry, we’re going to ask you to bring this to a vote before the end of the lame duck session and he said, ‘I will bring it to the active calender under Rule 14.’

Watch a compilation:

If the Senate overcomes all of the procedural hurdles that lie ahead — Republicans can try to attach killer amendments, filibuster the motion to proceed as well the final bill — the measure should pass the House with ease. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday, “[a]n army of allies stands ready in the House to pass a standalone repeal of the discriminatory policy once the Senate acts.” Pelosi could presumably move on the measure within one legislative day. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs expressed the administration’s support this morning, stressing that “The president remains committed to seeing this repeal done before Congress leaves town this year.”

“And I think there could be legislative vehicles that start in the House as a stand-alone [repeal bill] and can withstand procedural hurdles and put the Senate on the record on an up or down vote to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Gibbs said and promised that Obama will remain engaged on the issue.

But repeal advocates will also be pursuing other avenues of action, from filing legal challenges against the policy to pressuring the President to use his stop-loss authority to end the discharges.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he was “disappointed” “but not surprised” by the Senate’s failure to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal amendment contained within it, and seemed to endorse Sens. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT) and Susan Collins’ (R-ME) commitment to passing repeal as a stand-alone measure. “The fact remains, though, that there is still roughly a week left in the lame duck session, and so I would hope that the Congress would act to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ Gates said “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 for the change:

GATES: I think that the wake-up call for us, certainly for me, was the decision by the district court judge in California in October, who basically said, on a global basis, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is struck down immediately. So for all practical purposes, from that moment forward we had — the law was no longer in effect and we had done no training, no preparation. And we weren’t 100-percent sure that the Ninth Circuit would give us a stay. And so there was a two-week period there where there was an enormous amount of uncertainty as the courts went back and forth.

The proceedings of the Witt case are a concern. This is one that we have worried about because in that, as I understand it — and I’m getting into legal territory here that I may not fully understand, but my recollection is that we were faced with a situation where if the court decision stood, we would have a different set of criteria in terms of applying “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit and we would have had elsewhere in the country, so, again, the potential for extraordinary confusion.

Gates comments are telling because they pinpoint the moment at which the Secretary flipped from slow-walking the repealing process to running with it and publicly calling on the Senate to lift the ban in the lame duck. The good news is that since the Secretary’s major concern is having enough time to implement repeal, he may prove an important ally to pushing the stand alone bill through Congress and if that fails, pressuring President Obama to use his executive authority and issue some kind of stop-loss that would be more respectful of the military’s preparation concerns.

Of course, if all these efforts fall short, then the policy will probably be overturned by the courts — which, as some advocates told me, is not necessarily a bad thing, since it would prevent DOD from stretching out the implementation process.

This evening, moments after the Senate failed to invoke cloture and proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — the measure which contains the amendment to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) announced that they would offer a stand-alone DADT measure. Lieberman also said that he has a commitment from Reid to bring up the bill before the end of the year.

The vote on the National Defense Authorization Act failed after days of negotiations between Collins and Reid on the number of amendments that would be offered under a “reasonable” framework of debate. Talks appeared to break down this afternoon as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the floor without first notifying Collins. Reid addressed the negotiations of the last several days, claiming that Republicans kept changing the goal posts. He had offered Collins 15 amendments — 10 from Republicans and 5 from Democrats — with an hour of debate for each, but she insisted on more time.

Following Reid’s remarks, Collins took to the floor and explained that she felt “perplexed” by Reid’s motion. She claimed that the two had been close to a deal and that he was now reneging on that agreement by filling up the tree, a technique that takes-up all the available slots for amendments on legislation in order to block competing amendments. Her main complaint appeared to be that Republicans would not be able to choose their own “relevant amendments” to the bill, while Reid insisted that both parties had to reach an agreement on “what some of the amendments would be.” During the roll-call, Collins initially voted against cloture but then suddenly changed her vote after talking to Sens. Lieberman and Claire McCaskill (D-MO). Unfortunately, she was unable to bring along Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) or other moderate Republicans who had signaled that they would proceed to the measure. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the only Democrat to vote “no,” while Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) missed the vote but announced that she would have voted to proceed to the measure.

Watch a compilation of today’s floor activity:

It’s unclear when the Senate will bring up the stand-alone measure, but Lieberman told reporters that the legislation will mirror the language in the Defense Authorization Bill and could be brought up as soon as today.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) also took to the Senate floor to condemn the Senate’s failure and reiterated his pledge to work through the holidays to pass the bill before the end of the year. “I’m willing to stay through the holidays to debate it as a stand-alone measure,” he said. “The vote that we just had means that we won’t have a debate on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’”

Moments ago, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) try to work out a time agreement to debate the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) took to the floor to argue that even if the Senate can invoke cloture today, passing the bill may still prove an “insurmountable challenge”:

LEVIN: Even if we get 60 votes today to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to this bill and even if we’re able to consider amendments and pass this bill in a few days, it will be a possibly insurmountable challenge to work out all of the differences with the House. Over the last 10 years, madam President, it has taken an average of 75 days to conference the defense authorization bill with the House, after we passed it. If we don’t proceed with this bill, this week, then involving cloture sometime next week, even if we could do it would be a symbolic victory and I don’t believe there would be enough time to hammer out a final bill before the end of the session.

Watch it:

Levin made a strong case for repealing DADT earlier in the speech, but in this clip he referenced the policy in such a way as to suggest that he would support a stripped down defense bill, if it meant passing something before the end of the year. “But the only way this will be real and that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – assuming that we continue to keep it in the bill — will be real, is if we proceed to the bill this week. We cannot and should not delay this vote any longer.”

This morning, Reid announced that he planned to move on the NDAA today. “I also will likely, sometime today move to reconsider the previously failed cloture vote on defense authorization bill,” he said, without specifying an exact time. Most observers, however, believe that the measure will come to a vote around noon.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) — which came out in favor of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell last week — has put out this press release reminding lawmakers that repeal is addressed in just two of the 849 pages that make up the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill as a whole contains numerous other military priorities that the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman are all hoping Congress will pass before the end of the year. They include:

- Expanding the number of DoD mental health providers. There is a chronic shortage of mental health providers in the military. With rates of mental health injuries and suicide rising higher every month, the DoD is in desperate need of providers to help service members identify and combat invisible wounds. (Senate §703)

- Eradicating Military Sexual Trauma. NDAA contains 29 recommendations of the Joint Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military, including modernizing the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the creation of a sexual assault reporting hot line. (House §1601-1664)

- DoD/VA record sharing. NDAA would change HIPAA to allow records to migrate between the DoD and the VA. (Senate §715, House §532)

- Military pay raise and bonuses. NDAA provides a 1.9% pay increase for all service members and the extension of a host of recruitment and retention bonuses set to expire. (House §601)

- Improving military health. Authorizes $30.9 billion for the Defense Health Program and TRICARE coverage for eligible dependents up to age 26. [Added by me]

What’s happening here is that the very same Republicans who were blasting Democrats for voting against military funding to protest the Iraq war are now using their objection to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell — which the majority of the military actually supports — to obstruct and delay the above benefits and pay increases. In fact, they’re even prioritizing extending tax cuts for the richest Americans to the provisions in the defense bill. And, they’re somehow getting away with it all.

To be sure, some (but not all) of these pieces will be transferred into the continuing resolution (CR) and several are already included in the House CR, which passed last night. For instance, the CR “Provides DoD broad authority to realign funding to accommodate programs and projects planned for FY 2011″ and “Extends several authorities required for military pay and bonuses and compensation for civilian employees serving in theater, and authorities needed for overseas contingency operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.” The House CR also includes including “funds for a 1.4% military pay raise” — which was part of the Senate defense bill.

But only in the Senate are two pages in a bill and a completely unrelated priority reason enough to vote against even starting debate on the issue.

Earlier this evening, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — the moderate Republican whose vote to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was supposed to create a domino effect that would have brought along the support of Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AR) and Scott Brown (D-MA) and given Democrats the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster — told reporters that she would not vote for cloture until Congress reached an agreement for extending the Bush tax cuts. Consequently, Reid has postponed the vote to later in the week.

And while the tax negotiations remain at a standstill, earlier today, advocates of DADT repeal seemed hopeful that a compromise could still be brokered with Collins. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — a sponsor of repeal — and Reid, both disputed morning reports that Collins was unrealistically expecting an open amendment process and stressed that she was acting in good faith and seemed interested in reaching a “fair” time agreement with Democrats. “There was some stuff in the paper today that mean it — that said she couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted to do. That’s really not true,” Reid explained to reporters this afternoon. “She had made up her mind what she wanted to do. I just thought it was too much time,” he said.

Indeed, the Washington Posts’ Jonathan Capehart published a column just minutes before Collins pulled out of the deal, suggesting that Reid and Collins were just a couple of hours apart. While she had agreed to Reid’s “offer of 15 amendments — 10 for Republicans and 5 for Democrats,” she wanted “two hours of debate (one hour for Democrats and one hour for Republicans) for each amendment.” Publicly, Reid had only offered one hour of debate for each amendment, with additional time for some amendments.

It’s unclear what happened between now and then, but Reid’s team is disputing Capehart’s characterization, saying “If a little more time on each amendment was all she’s asking, Senator Reid would have shaken her hand and called it a deal by now.” And Collins told reporters that she needed more debate time and the ability for Republicans “pick our own amendments as opposed to the Majority Leader.” She also reverted back to the GOP argument that the tax extensions would have to come first. “Everyone on the Republican side wants to see the tax package completed first,” she said. “So I have urged the majority leader to postpone the vote…so that we could get the tax bill considered first — which I believe could be on the floor tomorrow — and completed by Saturday, and then move immediately to the DOD bill, but under a fair agreement.”

Whether or not Reid and Collins can agree on what constitutes “fair” and move to the defense bill will also now depend on the progress of the tax compromise, which seems to have stalled. But what’s certain is that postponing the vote will buy lawmakers more time to try and reach an agreement and possibly rope in those Republicans who would consider voting to proceed but remain committed to first tackling taxes.

During a press availability following the Democratic caucus this afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) praised Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-ME) openness in considering a fair and reasonable amendment process for bringing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to a vote, but stopped short of saying that he would hold the bill until he had secured 60 votes to proceed to the matter.

In the clip below, Reid outlines the agreement he has offered to Collins:

REID: I have worked a lot with Senator Lieberman and Senator Collins. Senator Collins has been most helpful in trying to figure a way to get this done. There was so me stuff in the paper today….

So I’m considering making it so it would be possible to offer 15 amendments. We would have an hour time agreement on those. Democrats would get 10, Republicans would get 5. We would also, if the Republicans felt they needed extra time on a couple of amendments they could choose those and that would give them an extra 4 hours. That is, they would have 4 hours on those two amendments, rather than 2 hours.

Watch it:

While it’s still unclear if Collins will take the deal, the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent is reporting that if she does, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AR) is ready to join her, giving Reid the necessary 60 votes for cloture. (This is assuming that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — who has previously said he is undecided — is willing to vote with his party).

Murkowski’s “vote will depend on how free and open the amendment process is, but she has reached the decision that don’t ask don’t tell ought to be repealed, provided that proper preparations are implemented,” her spokesman Michael Brumas told Sargent.

Throughout the negotiations, Collins has been asking for a completely open process that would allow Republicans to offer an unlimited number of amendments.

Greg Sargent is reporting that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) are having a difficult time agreeing to a “fair” process for consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act, which Collins says she supports. But she’s demanding a completely open amendment process that would allow Republicans to hijack the debate and offer non-germane amendments:

In private discussions between Collins and Reid this morning, and between their staffs over the weekend, Collins has demanded that Reid allow what’s known as “unlimited debate” on the bill in order for her to vote for repeal, the aide close to the talks says.

Reid has rejected this demand, the aide continues. The problem is that this could allow any Senator to hijack the proceedings by introducing a “non-germane amendment,” thus holding the floor.

Reid does not think Collins herself intends to do this, the aide continues. Rather, he worries that another GOP Senator who strongly opposes repeal, such as Tom Coburn or Jim DeMint, could take advantage of unlimited debate in this fashion to run out the clock.

“He can’t trust Coburn or DeMint,” the aide says. “He can’t agree to that deal.”

Reid has offered Collins a total of 15 amendments in order to get her to vote Yes — 10 for Repubicans and five for Democrats, the aide continues. Reid views this as a reasonable offer, because previous debates on defense authorization bills have had roughly this number of amendments offered, the aide adds.

But as of now, Collins has indicated this offer is “unsatisafctory,” the aide says. A Collins spokesperson denied this account in an email, but declined to elaborate.

As of this writing, Reid still intends to bring the NDAA to a vote, which advocates of repeal say will likely fail without the support of Collins. And in a move that could be interpreted as a recognition of this reality, negotiators are moving some of the must-pass military authorizations out of the NDAA and into the continuing resolution. From CQ’s John M. Donnelly:

A draft continuing resolution in the House contains several provisions that echo “must-pass” portions of the troubled defense authorization bill, setting up a backup plan in the increasingly likely event that Congress fails to clear the annual defense policy measure for the first time in nearly half a century.

The draft continuing resolution, or CR, would ensure enactment of several critical provisions that usually ensure the defense authorization bill becomes law. Those provisions include items required for military pay and bonuses, compensation for civilian employees serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and authorities needed for overseas contingency operations.

With this session of Congress quickly nearing its end, time has nearly run out for debating the defense authorization bill (S 3454) — a process that typically takes a couple of weeks. If the bill dies, so does this year’s effort to repeal the “don’t ask don’t tell” law (PL 103-160) that bars openly gay people from serving in the U.S. military.

Asked whether the inclusion of the military pay and other provisions was a tacit admission that the defense policy bill won’t move ahead, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who sits on both the Armed Service and Appropriations panels, acknowledged the bill is facing long odds.

“I’m concerned about the calendar running out,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t know if you can get it done even if you went right to Jan. 5 and worked every day.”

Meanwhile, some advocates are urging Reid to hold on bringing the authorization until he works out a compromise with the moderate senators and then stay in session past Christmas to pass the measure. One aid told Steve Benen that Collins is “basically asking for a unicorn for Christmas. We can’t give her a unicorn.” But why not? Should the negotiations for a fair time and amendment process with Collins fail, why can’t Reid highlight the absurdity of her request and then grant it, keeping the Senate in session until January 2nd to extend Republicans every opportunity to play games with military priorities?

This morning, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) — who told a local newspaper last month that he considered homosexuality a “sin” — released a statement saying that he accepted the military’s recommendations on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and would move to vote to the measure in the lame duck session of the Senate. From his statement:

On many previous occasions, I have said that I would oppose repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell until I had heard from our servicemen and women regarding this policy. I have now carefully reviewed all of the findings, reports, and testimony from our armed forces on this matter and I accept the Pentagon’s recommendations to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I also accept the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs’ commitment that this policy can be implemented in a manner that does not harm our military’s readiness, recruitment, or retention. We have the strongest military in the world and we will continue to do so by ensuring our troops have the resources necessary to carry out their missions. Therefore, I support the 2011 Defense Authorization Act that passed the Senate Armed Services Committee and will support procedural measures to bring it to a vote this year.

With Pryor’s commitment, the only Democratic vote that’s still in contention is that of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) who has expressed concern about overturning the policy during a time of war and, as of this writing, remains “undecided” on how to vote. If he is ultimately willing to vote on cloture, Democrats would need just two Republicans to proceed to the measure. With Sens. Brown’s, Collins’ and possibly Lugar’s support, it’s very likely that they will have more than 60 votes for the NDAA.

But it remains to be seen if Democrats will have enough time to debate the measure and if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is willing to keep the Senate in session past Christmas to ensure a “fair” process that will bring more Republicans on board. Earlier this morning, Reid took to the floor to announce that he’s “likely” to bring up the NDAA “this evening”:

REID: And I’m likely going to move to my motion to reconsider on the defense authorization act this evening. Allowing, as I will indicate at that time, time for amendments to that piece of legislation.

Watch it:

At this point, it’s unclear if those Republicans who support DADT repeal are willing to vote for cloture before considering taxes and other priorities.

A growing list of Democrats — including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — are joining Sen. Joe Lieberman’s (I-CT)’s call to stay in session as long as necessary to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal amendment. This afternoon, Lieberman appeared on Fox News to argue that the measure was a matter of military priority:

LIEBERMAN: If we don’t pass the defense bill because people are blocking it because of repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, it will be the first time since the 1960s that Congress hasn’t passed the Defense Authorization Bill. And the reason we pass it every year is that our troops need it. We authorize money for pay increases, we authorize money for more housing for their families. There is money in there for…the protective vehicles that are troops are using more and more particularly now in Afghanistan. [...]

Nobody wants to be here over Christmas. I don’t want to be here over Christmas. The question is, do we arbitrarily say December 17th? Most American workers work right through that following week and then go home for Christmas and I hope we can do that because it would be just outrageous if we don’t pass the authorization and repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell which is supported, I think, by a strong majority of the members of the Senate….Incidentally, our troops will be working right through the end of the year and beyond. Because that’s what they do for us. We owe it to them to pass this bill, which they need for benefits that they otherwise would.

Watch it:

Yesterday, a spokesperson for Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) — long considered a swing vote on the issue — told me that the Senator would also be willing to stay past Christmas to have enough time to debate the issue. Asked if he would vote for cloture if Reid extended the session and provided more time for debate, the aide said Lugar is “leaning that way.”

Meanwhile, the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network (SLDN) is organizing rally on Friday to pressure the Senate to remain in Washington until it passes the NDAA.

As Congress prepares to hold a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Liz Cheney — who had come out in favor of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell earlier this year — reiterated the need to lift the ban during a speech sponsored by the National Center for Policy Analysis. An amendment to repeal the measure is part of the NDAA.

After a speech last week in Texas, during which Cheney defended he father’s legacy and criticized Obama for reversing some of the Bush administration’s policies, she found common ground with the President on DADT:

There was, however, at least one controversial issue on which she agreed with Obama and most Democrats: repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for gays in the military.

Cheney – whose sister, Mary, is openly gay – pointed out that several top military officials support the repeal and that a recent Pentagon report showed such action wouldn’t affect the military’s readiness or defense capabilities.

“It’s time,” she said in an interview after the event.

In February, shortly after Obama announced that he would work to lift the ban in his State of the Union address, Cheney told TPMDC, “It’s time for it to end.” “The joint chiefs, certainly the chairman of the joint chiefs, has been clear about that and I think that the country really is at a place now where it’s time for it to end.” Unfortunately, Cheney did not say if she intended on lobbying Republican Senators to allow Reid to bring the measure to a vote in the Senate. A spokesperson for Keep America Safe — an organization Cheney co-founded — told me they had no immediate plans to press the issue.

A CBS News poll released on December 3, found that “69 percent of Americans believe gay men and women should be allowed to serve openly in the military” — an increase of seven points since October. “Just 23 percent oppose allowing gay men and women to serve openly.”

The Associated Press is reporting that Joe Manchin (D-WV) — who had previously told me that he didn’t “believe the rules should be changed until the battlefield commanders can certify it doesn’t hurt unit cohesion” — is now hinting that he would vote against lifting the ban in the lame duck session. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Manchin reiterated his concerns about lifting the ban during a time of war and the effect the change would have on military chaplains:

“They don’t believe that it should be invoked at a point of time when they’re engaged in combat, because it would be a hard transition for them,” Manchin said. “So, if someone’s trying to push that through with a vote quicker, it might not be prudent. I’m not sure if the votes would be there to do that.” [...]

“Do the clergy believe that this makes (it) harder for them to do the mission that they believe in, which is preaching the Gospel and the Bible as they believe, or does it kind of give them a pause, if you will,” Manchin said.

To be clear, the Pentagon’s Working Group survey met Manchin’s first requirement — that is, it concluded that repeal would not undermine unit cohesion — and addressed his new concerns.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen both urged Congress to lift the ban before the courts force the military to act at the turn of a dime and the Service Chiefs all testified that they would be able to effectively implement repeal during a time of war. Responding to Manchin’s question about the effect of repeal on the chaplains, all five Service Chiefs said that repeal would have a “small” effect on attrition.

During a Meet the Press appearance on Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued that the Senate would not have enough time to consider the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before it adjourns later this month, and he may be right if Majority Leader Harry Reid sticks to the schedule he outlined on Saturday. Appearing on the floor of the Senate, Reid announced he would file cloture Monday for the DREAM Act, the 911 firefighters health bill, a collective-bargaining measure for firefighters and a living adjustment payment for seniors with the hopes of voting on cloture by Wednesday. The Senate will hold an impeachment trial for a federal judge on Tuesday.

“We’re also trying to figure out a time to move forward on the defense authorization bill,” Reid explained. “The issue on that, Madam President, is what we do with amendments and without belaboring the point here, I would be happy to consider doing a number of amendments, if we have time agreements on those amendments. But just to have an open process, at this stage, I don’t see how we can do that.”

The problem, as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) explained last week, is that Reid is unlikely to attract Republican votes without a fair debate process and with just 58 Democratic votes (if one counts the very unlikely support of Sen. Mark Pryor) Reid needs at least two (probably three) Republicans to proceed to the bill. Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) didn’t put any overt conditions to voting for repeal when he announced his support on Friday but Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) premised their yes votes on extending the tax cuts and an open amendment process. Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), moreover, who has remained somewhat coy about his intentions said through a spokesperson on Friday that “Congress needs to study this more before taking action” and said there isn’t enough time to accomplish the needed discussions during as the legislative session wanes.”

Of course, if the question is one of timing, then Reid can always extend the session past the target adjourn date of December 17th and hold the Senate open every day until Republicans are satisfied with the debate process. The message should be: if you can’t compromise on a fair and reasonable time frame and insist on a completely open debate structure, then that’s what we’ll have 24 hours a day until the very day the new Congress is sworn in. If Republicans wish to obstruct or play games with a military priority — which besides DADT repeal also includes the military’s annual pay raise, recruiting and enlistment bonuses, provisions extending TRICARE to dependent children of troops, increases in hostile fire and imminent danger pay — then they do so at their own peril.

But there are some signs that Republicans would welcome a longer debate. Lugar spokesperson Mark Helmke told me that the Senator would be willing to stay past Christmas to have enough time to debate the issue. Asked if he would vote for cloture if Reid extended the session and provided more time for debate, Helmke said Lugar is “leaning that way.”

Moments ago, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in announcing that she would vote to proceed to the National Defense Authorization Act — the legislation that contains Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal — under an open amendment process. Collins added that she would vote for the legislation “once the tax issue is resolved.” Brown did not overtly attach any conditions to his vote, stating simply, “I accept the findings of the report and support repeal based on the Secretary’s recommendations that repeal will be implemented only when the battle effectiveness of the forces is assured and proper preparations have been completed.”

During the second day of hearings, the Service Chiefs disagreed on whether to proceed with immediate repeal during a time of war, but all concurred their respective branches could implement repeal and that Congress should act to prevent the court from ordering the military to lift the ban without a proper implementation process. The Service Chiefs also hinted that they could support eventual repeal and said they trusted Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to consider their views before ordering the Armed Forces to lift the ban.

Below are highlights from today’s hearings:

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) signaled that he would disregard the opinion of the military leadership and suggested “he could move to prevent floor debate on the 2011 defense authorization bill, which contains the repeal provision.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has not yet announced how he intends to proceed with the measure or if he’ll bring the bill to the floor under an open amendment process.

This morning, the Service Chiefs presented a difference in opinion about their views on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the lame duck session of Congress, but all four suggested that they feared that the courts could strike down the ban and force the Armed Forces to implement repeal without adequate preparation. The Chiefs implied that they supported repeal eventually, but had concerns about lifting the ban during a time of war.

Picking up on this argument, Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) — a strong proponent of repeal — said that the amendment included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) offered the perfect compromise: the certification process provides the military with the flexibility not to implement repeal right away, while undermining the possibility that the courts would force the Armed Forces to act quickly. Every Service Chief agreed that they were comfortable that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would take their concerns into consideration before certifying repeal and admitted that they could effectively implement the policy change.

Watch it:

Yesterday, Gates said that “until the Service Chiefs are comfortable that the risks to unit cohesion and combat effectiveness of a change have been addressed to their satisfaction and to my satisfaction, I would not sign the certification.”

The experiences of the 25 nations that allow open service suggest that the Chiefs’ concerns about lifting the ban are overstated. As the Palm Center has pointed out, “in many of those countries, debate before the policy changes was highly pitched and many people both inside and outside the military predicted major disruptions.” In Britain and Canada, for instance, “roughly two thirds of military respondents in polls said they would refuse to serve with open gays, but when inclusive policies were implemented, no more than three people in each country actually resigned.” “Research has uniformly shown that transitions to policies of equal treatment without regard to sexual orientation have been highly successful and have had no negative impact on morale, recruitment, retention, readiness or overall combat effectiveness.” Read their full report HERE.

This morning, the four Service Chiefs and General James Cartwright — the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the consequences of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Significantly, three of the witnesses — and two of the Service Chiefs — endorsed the Pentagon Working Group’s recommendation to lift the ban. Two others had mixed reactions and only one, Gen. James Amos, the new commandant of the Marine Corps, said he would oppose repeal. All the Chiefs testified that they would be able to implement repeal effectively, if so ordered. The repeal amendment also certifies that the policy would not be lifted until the President, the Secretary of Defense, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, certify that the action would not undermine military order. Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified that he would not certify repeal until all of the risks were mitigated.

The Service Chiefs echoed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ concern that a court ruling would not provide the Armed Forces with sufficient time to implement a change and urged Congress to deal with the policy legislatively. They also endorsed the the work and process of the Working Group, dealing a significant rebuke to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who during yesterday’s hearings argued that the study should have conducted a referendum on the question of lifting the ban.

Since President Obama announced his intent to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in this year’s State of the Union Address, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — who had previously said that he was open to considering repeal if the military carefully studied the consequences of such a policy change– has vocally opposed lifting the ban. But his objections transcended mere policy disagreements. At every step of the way, the senior Senator of Arizona acted as a thorn in the Democrats’ back, complaining about the normal time constraints of Senate hearings and implying that the military leadership supported repeal because they were carrying out a partisan agenda for the President.

From the very first DADT hearing in February 2010 to today’s session, the Senator refused to consider the views of the witnesses before him. This morning — after reviewing the overwhelming positive DADT report and listening to the pleas of the leaders to end the policy in the lame duck session — McCain went further, openly implying that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen was not living up to the expectations of leadership because he did not ask the troops if they favored repealing the policy:

MCCAIN: Then why wouldn’t we just ask the question?

MULLEN: Because, I fundamentally sir, think it’s an incredibly bad precedent to ask them about, to essentially vote on a policy.

MCAIN: It’s not voting sir, it’s asking their views….Now I understand what your answer is. We would not ask their views on whether this policy should be changed or not, as the first question.

MULLEN: We’ve gotten in great part their views as a result of this survey.

MCCAIN: Well obviously, we’ll go around and around, but why we didn’t just simply ask them how they felt about it….Again, every great leader I’ve known has said, what are your views on this issue?

Watch it:

Significantly, all of the leaders in front of the commission — Mullen, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Working Group chairmen Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham — disagreed with McCain’s approach of polling the troops about the policy. “I can’t think of a single precedent in American history of doing a referendum of the american armed forces on a policy issue,” Gates said, asking, “are you going to ask them if they want 15 month tours, are you going to ask them if they want to be part of the surge in Iraq?” McCain didn’t name a single “great leader” who favored a referendum.

For a complete run down of McCain’s top 11 positions on the issue, click HERE.

This morning, during a hearing about the impact of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and the co-chairmen of the Pentagon’s Working Group study of the policy effectively pushed back against Republican’s efforts to use the report as a reason to keep the current policy in place.

Significantly, Army Gen. Carter F. Ham the co-charimen of the Pentagon’s Working Group studying the impact of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and a skeptic of lifting the ban announced that he would personally support ending the policy. “It is my personal view that I’m very concerned about the timing of the courts and so personally I think it is time to move debate and discussion to decision and implementation. So yes sir, I think it is time to change,” Ham responded to a question from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was forced to move on to Gates.

For the GOP, it only got worse from there, as the witnesses effectively debunked Republican concerns one by one. Below is only a partial compilation:

- CLAIM: Should not lift ban in a time of war.

MULLEN RESPONDS: I find the argument that war is not the time to change to be antithetical with our experiences since 2001. War does not stifle change, it demands it. It does not make change harder, it facilities it.

- CLAIM: Combat troops believe repeal would be disruptive.

HAM RESPONDS: A subsequent question to that was, under intense combat, what would your response be. And we saw the negative rates drop dramatically.

- CLAIM: 28% response rate is too low.

HAM RESPONDS: Twenty-eight percent overall response rate is well within the historical range of Department of Defense surveys of military personnel.

- CLAIM: 265,000 servicemembers would leave the military.

GATES RESPONDS: Based on the survey itself, experience would dramatically lower those numbers. If I believed that a quarter of a million people would leave the military would leave immediately, if given the opportunity, I would certainly have second thoughts about that.

- CLAIM: Servicemembers should have been asked if they believe policy should be changed.

GATES RESPONDS: I can’t think of a single precedent in American history of doing a referendum of the american armed forces on a policy issue.

Watch a compilation:

The hearings will continue tomorrow, when the four Service Chiefs — who are less “sanguine” about repeal than Gates and Mullen — testify before the committee.

This afternoon, in a conference call with bloggers, Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham — the co-charimen of the Pentagon’s Working Group studying the impact of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — responded to critics like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) who condemned the review for not asking servicemembers if they believed the policy should be repealed. “I think that asking the force to vote on any significant policy matter. I can’t think of a good outcome that comes out of that,” Ham said in respone to my question:

HAM: We don’t poll the force about potential military operations. We didn’t poll the army that says, you know, do you agreee with 12 or 15 month-long combat tours. So I think that this notion that a referendum is contrary to our tradition and customs and I would not like to see us travel down that path. The work that Mr. Johnson and I undertook was rather can we do this, and I think our report answers that pretty clearly.

Both men also responded to McCain’s most recent suggestion that the Service Chiefs — who Gates described as less senguine of repeal than the report co-chairs — were more qualified in assessing the impacts of repeal than leaders in Washington. McCain is quoted by the Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz this afternoon as dismissing the views of Secretary of Defense Gates and President Obama, saying “neither of which I view as a military leader.”

“We talked to military leaders on the ground. We talked to military leaders everywhere….We got a collective sense from leaders in all the services about the impact of repeal,” Johnson added, implying that that the majority did not see risk in repeal.

Significantly, Ham also attributed the lower support for repeal from Army and Marine combat forces to their lack of experience with gay soldiers:

HAM: 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.

Both Ham and Johnson will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow, along with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen. The Service Chiefs will come before the Committee on Friday.

This morning, despite Secretary of Defense Robert Gate’s urgent plea for the Senate to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal in the lame duck session, all 42 Republican Senators signed a letter agreeing to block any legislation “from reaching the Senate floor until President Barack Obama and Congress figure out a way to extend a series of expiring Bush-era tax cuts and pass legislation to fund the government into next year.” But a spokesperson for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — a strong supporter of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — told Greg Sargent that while “the Senate should be focused on taxes and the economy (especially since the tax provisions expire on January 1) and obviously we need to pass a bill funding the government before Friday,” “she believes there is time to consider other issues as well, and she has made it clear that if the Majority Leader brings the Defense Authorization bill to the floor, for example, and allows sufficient debate and amendments, she would vote to proceed to the bill.”

Now, two other potential Republican swing votes — Sens. Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) — are moving closer to Collins’ position. In phone conversations this afternoon, their spokespeople told me that they too would vote for the motion to proceed on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — the measure that includes DADT repeal — if it’s considered through an open amendment process:

- MURKOWSKI: “Yea, of course, [the NDAA] is a priority but she believes, like her colleagues, that first she wants to see the Senate take care of the budget and of these looming tax increases.” Spokesperson Mike Brumas also stressed that Murkowski would consider the testimony of the Service Chiefs before reaching a decision and that the NDAA would have to be considered under an open amendment process.

- LUGAR: Spokesperson Mark Hayes made it clear that Lugar considered the tax cuts, the continuing resolution and START his top three priorities for the lame duck session, but said that the Senator would vote for cloture under an open amendment process. “If it’s structured debate that is fair to both sides, he would for the motion to proceed.”

Interestingly, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — the sponsor of repeal in the Senate — is also arguing that extending the Bush tax cuts and approving a continuing resolution should come before NDAA and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal. This morning, he urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) — who has promised to bring NDAA to the floor — to allow Senators enough time to debate the measure. “Will we take the time to have the debate, not just on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell but on the underlining Defense Authorization bill,” he said. “And I can tell you that some of the Republicans who want to be for this, also want to make sure that Senator Reid offers them a fair amendment process.”

Moments ago, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama has not contacted swing Senators since the release of the Pentagon’s DADT report, but revealed that Gates has. He also admitted that the administration has “not provided specific calendar guidance” for when the Senate should consider the NDAA, but reiterated that passing the measure was “tremendously” important.