Lawmakers gearing up for 2010 "don't ask, don't tell" fight
Published: December 28, 2009
Last week nearly 100 members of Congress sent a letter for Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting details on servicemembers discharged in 2009 under the military's ban on homosexuals serving openly in the ranks.
The statistics -- how many troops, their years of service, their job specialties -- will be the backbone of arguments in favor of overturning the "don't ask, don't tell" law when both the House and Senate hold hearings on the issue sometime this spring.
The lawmakers are also requesting the Pentagon provide monthly updates on numbers of troops being kicked out because of the law, so "the public will get a clearer picture of the continued costs and damage to our national security inflicted by this policy."
The request includes the signature of only one Republican lawmaker -- Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida -- and largely mirrors the supporters list of the "don't ask, don't tell" repeal measure sponsored by Pennsylvania's Rep. Patrick Murphy (although that bill has 186 co-sponsors).
And the letter also lays out the financial arguments against the ban, citing a 2006 Blue Ribbon Commission’s report on "don't ask, don't tell" that suggested the sexual-orientation discharges cost the Pentagon more than $360 million from 1994 until 2003.
Pentagon officials have not yet responded to the request. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., has said lawmakers may seek legislative action to mandate the monthly reports if the Defense Department does not cooperate.
[GRAPHIC: Signatures from the letter]
