Obama calls Levin about DADT

Under fire by gay rights groups for not pushing hard enough for the repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, and facing the possibility that the new Republican majority would not vote for repeal after being sworn in, President Obama on Wednesday called Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and urged him to keep a repeal amendment in this year’s defense authorization bill. Politico reports:

Also Wednesday, Obama – who advocates criticized for not doing enough to influence the Senate vote – called Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to “reiterate his commitment on keeping the repeal of, and the need for the Senate to pass this legislation during the lame duck,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Wednesday afternoon.

There was no word of personal contact between the president and other senators, but Inouye said others at the White House have been lobbying the Senate to pass the defense spending bill with the “don’t ask” language intact. “The President’s call follows the outreach over the past week by the White House to dozens of Senators from both sides of the aisle on this issue,” Inouye said

Levin’s committee placed language repealing “don’t ask” in the defense bill in May, but when Reid tried to bring the bill to the floor in September, Republicans and a couple of Democrats filibustered, sidetracking it. Some gay rights advocates complained that Obama didn’t do much Senate lobbying to move the bill then, but the president – who has vowed to end the ban on his watch, but insists only the Senate can do it – said the ongoing lame-duck session is the best option for repeal.

It was reported last week that Sen. Levin was negotiating with Sen. John McCain, an opponent of repeal, to remove that language from the larger authorization bill, which would reduce the chances of it passing by itself.