Hoyer: Senate Has Votes to Kill DADT

The House has fired the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell back into the Senate's court, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says he's confident it has enough votes to pass this time. Hoyer tells the Huffington Post that he's been working closely with reform advocates Joe Lieberman and Maine Republican Susan Collins and they agreed that the House would move first on a stand-alone repeal bill.

Repeal fell 3 votes short of the 60 needed to beat a Senate filibuster last week, but Democrat Blanche Lincoln missed the vote and Republicans Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, and Richard Lugar are believed to be open to voting for repeal, raising the possibility that other Republicans will switch sides when the outcome becomes clear. Hoyer says he doesn't know when the vote will come up, but Harry Reid has vowed to keep the Senate working past Christmas if necessary.
(More Senate stories.)