HASC: Leave gay ban out of defense bill - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

HASC: Leave gay ban out of defense bill

The military’s gay ban won’t be part of the House Armed Services Committee debate on the 2011 defense bill, the committee chairman said Wednesday as the panel launched a daylong effort to write the $700 billion measure.

Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., said he and Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, the panel’s ranking Republican, “have agreed to support” the call by Pentagon leaders “for more time to study the issue.”

“We do not support this issue being raised in this markup,” he said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen asked Congress to hold off on voting to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy until the Defense Department completed a study about how such a change could be implemented.

With Skelton and McKeon agreeing to oppose amendments, it’s unlikely the House committee would approve an amendment to the 2011 defense authorization bill to repeal the gay ban. But it also leaves them headed in an opposite direction from the Senate.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, said last week that it was still his intention to have a debate on the military’s policy on gays during preparation of its version of the 2011 defense bill. Levin supports repealing the current ban, and wants to add legislation making the change to the bill that passes through his committee. Levin’s committee could vote on the issue as early as May 27.

The House could still take up the gay ban during debate on the House floor on the 2011 defense bill. That debate could happen as early as next week.

DISCUSS: Don't ask, don't tell