The White House on Saturday expressed “serious objections” to an amendment approved by the House Armed Services Committee on May 11 that would require all four military service chiefs to certify that implementation of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal would not impact combat readiness.
Chris Geidner at Metro Weekly reports:
White House spokesman Shin Inouye, responding to a request from Metro Weekly about the White House’s position on Hunter’s amendment, wrote, ”The President is working with the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to certify, pursuant to the repeal bill, that implementation of the new policies and regulations written by the Department is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention of the Armed Forces.”
He added, ”We have serious objections to any amendment that would unnecessarily delay this process.”
The amendment, attached to the annual military funding bill, was introduced Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), and would call for the delay, or halt, repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members if just one of the service chiefs opposes it.
On Thursday, the committee voted to send the bill to the full House, where passage in the GOP-controlled chamber is likely, although repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” could be formally certified under current provisions before a Senate version of Hunter’s bill could be considered.
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