Details on the DADT Deal

President Obama and congressional Democrats may have reached a deal on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but the anti-gay military policy isn’t dead just yet. If Congress passes the legislation, it will only consider DADT repealed when 1) the Secretary of Defense receives the study of the policy that the Pentagon is undertaking; and 2) the president, secretary of Defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs sign off on its recommendations. “There is nothing in the legislation that says the repeal must happen,” writes John Aravosis, and DADT will remain in place if the conditions laid out in the legislation are never satisfied. Meanwhile, the main sponsor of the effort in the House, Patrick Murphy, is saying that the Democrats have the votes there; it's less clear in the Senate however, where Joe Lieberman and Carl Levin are leading the effort.