Plan B for DADT?

Even as "don't ask, don't tell" repeal advocates scramble to line up the votes to beat a GOP filibuster of the National Defense Authorization Act, whispers of trying to attach a repeal measure to another piece of legislation are beginning to circulate.

Advocates as well as the White House still prefer to pass repeal as part of the defense funding bill, but questions continue to arise around whether the legislation will even get to the floor for a vote given GOP opposition and a dwindling calendar.

"If that bill is not going to move, the question is, What vehicle will move in the lame-duck session?" Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, told reporters during a Tuesday briefing. "The concern that many and I have is that time is running out."

The Senate could adjourn as early as the end of next week, and deliberations on the defense funding bill -- which would take one full week to debate at a minimum -- won't start until next week at the earliest.

Sarvis's fears were underscored Wednesday morning, when Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell presented a letter signed by all 42 GOP senators pledging that they would decline to act on any legislation during the lame-duck session until government funding and extending the Bush-era tax cuts were addressed. Government funding is set to expire December 3 and must, at the very least, be extended at the current rate by then or the government will largely shut down.

"We write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers," read the letter. "With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs downplayed the letter at Wednesday's briefing, saying that neither he nor President Barack Obama were going to get "hung up" on it.

But the White House continues to be more focused on passing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and extending the middle-class tax cuts. Gibbs indicated several times during the briefing that START and the tax cuts were discussed at the president's bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday.

"What everybody agreed on yesterday is that this is a problem that has to be dealt with by the end of the year," Gibbs said of the tax issue. "We cannot have congress leave for the holidays without a solution to an issue that will bring a hardship -- potentially a big hardship -- to middle-class families at the end of the year."

Although Gibbs did volunteer unsolicited information about "don't ask, don't tell" at the briefing, he never said it was mentioned at the bipartisan meeting. A list of talking points for the meeting that the White House circulated to Congress members also made no mention of the defense funding bill while both START and the tax cuts were specifically referenced.

Nonetheless, Gibbs said passing repeal should be taken up before the end of the year.

"I'm saying that is among the issues that I think many people believe -- the secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff included -- should be addressed over the next few weeks," he said. "And I think we'll get an opportunity to address not just how we fund the government and not just the tax rates for next year. The president and everyone in that room agree that's the most important thing to address. But there's plenty of time to do plenty of other work."

Upon questioning from The Advocate and the Washington Blade, Gibbs said President Obama "would be involved" with lobbying senators on repeal and that Defense secretary Robert Gates has already made phone calls to senators.

But many repeal advocates still fear the clock might be ticking too fast to address so many major bills in so short a time.

Sarvis did not suggest that serious discussions had begun around finding another vehicle for repeal but did mention both START and the tax bill as options.

Another advocate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, questioned whether moving repeal to another bill would discourage a filibuster threat from Sen. John McCain.

"It's our assessment at this time that moving the amendment to another bill will not eliminate the opposition being led by Senator McCain," the source said. "If McCain is willing to bring down a $725 billion authorization bill that includes a pay raise and new body armor for the troops, he won't let another bill daunt him."