Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
H.R. 2401 was one of those catch-all bills that our Congress is famous for.
To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1994 for military activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe military personnel strengths for fiscal year 1994, and for other purposes.
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” amendment and its opposites were introduced in several forms. H.AMDT.318 (A021) was introduced by Rep. Ike Skelton from Missouri.
The final roll call vote on the amentment was held 9/29/93. It passed 295-133, with 161 Republicans and 134 Democrats voting in favor. Congress was controlled by the Democrats at this time and Bill Clinton was President.
After Conference, with the amendment still included, the House voted 273-135 to accept and the Senate voted 77-22 to accept.
It does not appear that the passage of the bill was affected, in the final vote, by the amendment contained within it.
You will note that the following Senators voted for the bill, and thus for the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
- Biden (D-DE), Yea
- Byrd (D-WV), Yea
- Daschle (D-SD), Yea
- Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
- Kennedy (D-MA), Yea
- Kerry (D-MA), Yea
- Leahy (D-VT), Yea
- Reid (D-NV), Yea
In the House, the last vote on the amendment also had some supporters of note:
- Bonior
- Condit
- Dingell
- Gephardt
- Kaptur
- Murtha
- Obey
And, of course, 127 more of their fellow Democrats.
You see, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was a creature of the Democratic establishment. They overwhelmingly supported it. As they whine and moan about the “bad” military and Bush’s “anti-gay” rules, remember that it was a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President that passed the rule and did so in huge numbers.
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