Tag: Restore Military Readiness Act

Republican California Rep. Duncan Hunter with Colorado Rep. Doug Lamborn as cosponsor has introduced the "Restore Military Readiness Act," which would require the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines to independently sign off on repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy prohibiting gay Americans from serving openly in the military. Lamborn told the Colorado Independent he's concerned that implementing the repeal, which was passed in December, could divert resources from winning the war in Afghanistan. Yet Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall, who spearheaded the repeal effort, told the Independent that he asked the same military branch chiefs to address these same concerns at the widely publicized hearing on the matter held at the capitol before lawmakers voted in favor of repeal.

With the "Obamacare-repeal" legislation passed yesterday in the U.S. House, California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter has introduced the next Republican Congress repeal effort. Hunter's "Restore Military Readiness Act" is reopening debate on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the 17-year-old policy lifted by lawmakers in December that banned gay soldiers from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Forces. Hunter's bill, which Colorado's Doug Lamborn signed onto as a co-sponsor, is already being criticized not as a true policy initiative but as a way to revisit the issue of gay rights and military readiness that generated sparks during the last days of the previous Democratic-controlled session of Congress.