Looks like it, if Reid will give Collins (R-ME) what she wants – from NRO’s The Corner:
With Sen. Scott Brown now favoring the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, plus all 58 Democratic Senators, pro-repeal forces need only one more vote to end debate, and move forward with the broader Pentagon spending bill that would wipe the controversial law out, effecting one of Obama’s campaign promises. And many are speculating that the one vote could come from Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), as early as tonight. But she’s issued Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid an ultimatum. TPM has the scoop:
Here’s what Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that she needs to support a full Senate debate on the defense authorization bill (the vehicle for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal): 15 guaranteed votes on amendments (10 for Republicans, and 5 for Democrats), and somewhere around four days to debate the bill…
Collins wants the amendments and wants the GOP to pick their own (I guess in normal times Reid would pick which GOP amendments would come up for a debate and vote). This could get interesting – after all, if you open up the Senate to GOP proposals you’re likely to get things which the “2012 Democrats” (ie, those red State Democrats up for election in 2012) dare not vote against…but which may prove hard to swallow for the liberal base Obama needs for 2012. Collins is a mostly pain in the neck RINO, but this is a bit clever on her part – if we’re to be stuck with Reid shoving through something which should wait until the new Congress next month, then we should at least reap some benefit for going along.
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