Servicemembers United is conducting “OPERATION RENEWED ENGAGEMENT” on Capitol Hill. The lobbying effort, which started yesterday and will continue through tomorrow, will hit 71 Senate offices. Via press release, we got this update:
“Despite the ongoing snow storm in Washington, DC right now, gay veterans and allies are storming the Hill for a second day in a row to demand that the Senate finish the job on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ before leaving for the holidays,” said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and the Servicemembers United Action Fund. “The fact that these advocates are braving the snow to fight for what they believe in should demonstrate that we will not accept any excuses from lawmakers for failing to get this done, including bad weather or time running out.”
I just talked to Alex who reports that Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) have joined as cosponsors of the DADT bill, which brings the total to 50. We’ll get more updates from him later today.
Alex is right: There are no excuses. And, while time is running out, there is time for the Senate to vote for the DADT bill.
As noted below, earlier today, Robert Gibbs said we have the votes to pass the DADT bill, adding “there’s an effort to get his done if we have time to do it.”
The message from SU and its allies is pretty clear: Make the time to do it.
