I used C-SPAN’s video tool to embed this video of Majority Leader Reid announcing plans for moving forward. C-SPAN let’s one clip only the relevant video one wants.
The Senate wants to adjourn on December 17th. That’s less than two weeks from now. And, they’ve got a lot to do. He addressed the Defense bill after prompting from Senator Levin. Transcript of those remarks is below. Bottom line is that time is still our enemy and we’ll need to see a lot of cooperation if the DADT language is going to pass this year.
You have to click on the start button (black triangle) to begin the video.
Here’s the language, from the transcipt on Defense Authorization:
AND THE OTHER THING THAT I’VE INDICATED — IN FACT I HAD A NUMBER OF CONVERSATIONS, BIPARTISAN IN NATURE, YESTERDAY — WE’RE ALSO TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A TIME TO MOVE FORWARD ON THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL. 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. BUT I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH MY FRIEND, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE, AND OTHERS INTERESTED, BOTH REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS, RECOGNIZING HOW IMPORTANT THAT LEGISLATION IS.
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