Greetings from Capitol Hill!
A vote on the defense authorization bill (NDAA), which includes the DADT provision, could come as early as this evening. So here's an update on where we are and what's going on:
Senator Reid has said he will bring NDAA back up tonight if the other four votes scheduled for today all fail (which very well may happen). When NDAA comes back up, it will be a "re-do" of the September vote, the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill, which requires 60 votes to pass.
A handful of Republicans have indicated a willingness to vote to proceed on NDAA if the amendment and debate process is "fair and reasonable." Since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) alone controls the amendment and debate process, pressure needs to be put on both Senator Reid AND the handful of moderate Republicans to come to an agreement.
Please take just a few minutes today to call these offices and help us get this done:
(Also, don't forget about our iPhone App (called "Repeal DADT") that lets you call these senators with one touch.)
1. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) (202.224.3542) - Demand that he offer Senator Collins and her moderate colleagues a fair number of amendments and reasonable amount of floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill, staying over until Christmas if they have to.
2. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) (202.224.2523) - Demand that she accept from Senator Reid a fair offer of amendments and floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill.
3. Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) (202.224.3353) - Demand that he accept from Senator Reid a fair offer of amendments and floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill.
4. Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) (202.224.4814) - Demand that he accept from Senator Reid a fair offer of amendments and floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill.
5. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) (202.224.3954) - Demand that he vote with his party to support cloture on the defense authorization bill.
6. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) (202.224.4843) - Demand that she vote with her party to support cloture on the defense authorization bill.
7. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202.224.6665) - Demand that she accept from Senator Reid a fair offer of amendments and floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill.
8. Senator John Ensign (R-NV) (202.224.6244) - Demand that he accept from Senator Reid a fair offer of amendments and floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill.
9. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) (202.224.5344) - Demand that she accept from Senator Reid a fair offer of amendments and floor time for debate on the defense authorization bill.
And here are a couple more things you can do in your spare time today:
1. Share this announcement with a status update and link on Facebook and Twitter.
2. Tell others about the "Repeal DADT" iPhone app and ask them to make calls too.
3. Become a fan of the "REPEAL THE BAN - End Don't Ask, Don't Tell" page on Facebook and recruiter others to become fans as well (the latest updates are always posted there first, which goes right into your newsfeed).
4. Ask 5 or 10 friends to go to ServicemembersUnited.org and click on the "Join Our Network" link on the top of the site to get into our email database so they stay up to date too and you don't have to bug them all the time about DADT (we'll do that for you).
5. Got ideas for more we can be doing, or for things you'd like our help in doing to forward the DADT repeal effort. Don't hesitate to let us hear from you.
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