Matthew Yglesias » Reid Clarifies on DADT: ‘We Would Welcome A Legislative Proposal From The White House’

Jun 16th, 2009 at 4:50 pm

Reid Clarifies on DADT: ‘We Would Welcome A Legislative Proposal From The White House’

Good news, in a statement to my ThinkProgress colleagues Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has clarified his position on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:

While we do not have a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell bill introduced in the Senate yet, a number of Senators are working on an approach to get it repealed. We would welcome a legislative proposal from the White House on repeal so as to provide clear guidance on what the President would like to see and when. Working together, I believe we can find the time to get repeal done in this Congress.

Good.

Comments
23

23 Responses to “Reid Clarifies on DADT: ‘We Would Welcome A Legislative Proposal From The White House’”

Duvall Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It’s good to see Reid’s spinelessness working for us for a change.
Ryan 2 Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
So, it’s Obama’s baby. I’m actually relieved that we know precisely who is to be held accountable. If it happens, I will give Obama credit. If it doesn’t, it’s because he doesn’t want to do it. Period.
Glenn Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Perhaps the brewing revolt against Obama by LGBT groups is starting to have a little effect.
daveNYC Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Or Reid himself could just introduce legislation that would repeal DADT. That’d put the ball totally back in the Executive branch’s court. It’s not like Senators aren’t allowed to introduce legislation.
anonymoose Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
I would really like to repeal DADT, but you know it isn’t really up to me or the other people in Congress…to….you know….legislate. But I would be really willing to maybe at least consider something if Obama says we should….sometime in the future…
john b Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
they’re just passing the buck back and forth.

didn’t obama say pretty much this exactly the same thing a few weeks ago (”i’d welcome dadt legislation from the congress”)
P Snowden Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Isn’t it the legislative branch’s job to legislate? Maybe they wrote that out of the living constitution at some point. Get Sotomayor on the horn!
MBunge Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Seriously, what the hell is Reid saying other than “The Senate’s not going to bother to do it’s job unless the Obama Administration takes most of the heat for it”?

Mike
eriks Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
This is pretty dumb. As others have said, Reid is avoiding doing his job.
John Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
It seems to me that it makes sense for Congress to be deferential to the President on a subject having to do with personnel policy in the executive branch.
tomemos Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Reid didn’t campaign on ending DADT. Obama did. He’s accountable for delivering that, or at least trying to.
Midland Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Not that Reid doesn’t have a history of saying stupid things in public and contradicting himself a few hours later, but at what point can we have him checked for practical senility?
joe from Lowell Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
John,

Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution:
Section 8 – Powers of Congress

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States…

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

This is quite explicitly Congress’s job.
wiley Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Simply repealing DADT would put as back to square one. DADT allowed gays to serve, so long as they don’t make their sexual preference known. Making it legal for gays to serve openly requires legislation that specifically makes it legal for gays to serve openly—repealing DADT won’t do that.
Existenz Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Why don’t they just stick it into the war supplemental? If it’s ok to slip a hugely unpopular IMF funding package in there, why not a very popular repeal of DADT?
Matt B Says:
June 16th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Heard back from Specter’s office today re DADT. Absolutely noncommittal about anything. Sez he’s listening to his constituents, though. Is anyone in the Senate NOT a gutless ninny?
FOIA Gras Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Sen Reid wants the White House to initiate legislation. The White House has made it clear that it wants Congress to address repeal. This back-and-forth is making Dems look dysfunctional, cowardly, and impotent on what should be a relatively straightforward issue. Polls show that even a majority of Republicans support repeal so shouldn’t this be one of those “bipartisan” legislative opportunities?

So far the only payoff to working so hard to put Obama in the White House is that we are not now at war with Iran or North Korea.
ShawninPHX Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Funny how Reid didn’t need a draft copy for health care reform or other Obama priorities. It’s the old game of “Who’s on first.” Neither Reid nor Obama wants to get slammed for overturning DADT.

I held fundraisers and drummed up a lot of cash for Obama and the DNC last year. No longer. I’m not attending the GLBT fundraiser at the end of the month nor will I give money to any candidate and/or committee that continues this charade.

Fool me once (Clinton) shame on you, fool me twice (Obama) shame on me.
DTM Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Working together, I believe we can find the time to get repeal done in this Congress.

I’m going to continue to bet this gets addressed after the 2010 midterms, which is consistent with Reid’s claim if it happens in a lame duck session.
Doc Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Oh if only the Democrats controlled Congress and the White House, things would be so different!

Too timid, always too timid, too little, and too late.
chris Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Actually, it’s not Reid’s job; Congress has committees to deal with specific subject matter because it allows members and their staffs to develop more expertise on those specific subjects.

The following are the members of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel:

Democrats:

Senator Ben Nelson
Subcommittee Chairman

Senator Kennedy
Senator Lieberman
Senator Akaka
Senator Webb
Senator McCaskill
Senator Hagan
Senator Begich
Senator Burris

Republicans:
Senator Graham
Ranking Member

Senator Chambliss
Senator Thune
Senator Martinez
Senator Wicker
Senator Vitter
Senator Collins

The Republicans (with the possible exception of Collins) may be less receptive to the idea because they either personally support irrational prejudice against homosexuals, or believe their constitutents or electoral base do so. (Of course, if they get constituent letters/emails asking them to support DADT repeal, that might change their opinion of what their constitutents want…) But anyone who lives in a state represented by any of these Senators should feel free to lean on them to get the ball rolling on this issue.
John Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 9:51 am
joe from lowell – I certainly wasn’t trying to suggest that it was not congress’s job. But there are some issues where it makes sense for congress to take the lead from the president, if the two are like-minded, and issues having to do with the regulation of military personnel policies seem like a good case of that.

Obviously, it’s a law, and congress can decide to repeal it on its own if it wants to. But given that there’s a president who’s supposedly sympathetic to repeal, and given that the president is the one who has military advisors he can talk to about the best way of effecting the change, I think it’s sensible to expect that the president should propose the legislation. This has nothing to do with constitutional powers.
Sebastian Says:
June 17th, 2009 at 11:33 am
“Reid Clarifies on DADT: ‘We Would Welcome A Legislative Proposal From The White House’”

Oh good. And fortunately this isn’t one of things that requires a difficult proposal. Cite the DADT provision in law, and propose that it be repealed. That should take less than 15 minutes of research by a White House staffer.

So we should expect that today, right…?