Senate to vote on ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal this weekend

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the repeal of the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t
tell” law this weekend.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on
Thursday evening called for the end of debate, or cloture, on a
standalone bill to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the
military.

Invoking cloture means that the Senate would take a procedural vote on
the repeal legislation on Saturday and a final vote on the bill by
Sunday.

Supporters of repeal have at least 60 votes necessary to pass that
bill. Several Republicans publicly support it — Sens. Susan Collins
(Maine), the co-sponsor of the bill, Olympia Snowe (Maine), Scott Brown
(Mass.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).

The House already passed the standalone bill on Wednesday. If the
Senate passes the bill, it would go to President Obama for his
signature, scrapping the 1993 Clinton-era ban.