Reporting Wednesday’s markup of the 2011 defense bill by his House Armed Services Committee, chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) noted, “You won’t find any mention of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT).” The reason, he said, is that he and ranking member Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) “have agreed to support” the request by Pentagon leaders for “time to study the issue.” Earlier this month, Skelton’s counterpart in the Senate, Carl Levin (D-Mich.), asked Defense Secretary Bob Gates to clarify the Pentagon role in the current debate. Levin is a co-sponsor of the bill (S3065) from Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) to repeal DADT. Skelton, so far, has not signed on to a related bill (HR1283) introduced last year in the House by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.). (Skelton markup remarks)
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.