Brody's Notes... White House Says Its Opposed To Efforts To Strip DADT From Defense Bill

Photo By Brody Levesque

By Mark Singer (Washington DC) NOV 9 | In a statement released last night, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said:

"The White House opposes any effort to strip 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' from the National Defense Authorization Act."

Pfeiffer acknowledged that this was in response to press reports that sources on Capitol Hill had told journalists on Sunday that negotiations had commenced between Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin (D) and the leading Republican on the committee, John McCain (R-AZ), who has already publicly stated he will filibuster any efforts by the democratic leadership to bring the bill  to the Senate Floor for a vote with the DADT repeal amendment still attached.

The Advocate's Senior White House correspondent Kerry Eleveld had reported on Sunday that Chairman Levin was looking at options to push the bill forward and ensure passage before the current session of the Senate ends on December 11th.  Yesterday a spokesman for the Arizona Senator confirmed the discussions with the Wall Street Journal.

Fred Sainz, HRC's communications vice president in an interview with Metroweekly's Political reporter Chris Geidner Monday, called the reports "interesting background noise," but added, "At this point, this is nothing more than a rumor that has always been a possibility."  

Geidner reports Sainz also added, "We haven't seen any evidence of Democrats – and especially those in leadership – that have taken the bait."