SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 1999--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am here today to express my strong support for the repeal of the don't ask don't tell policy. The Senate took a significant step toward that repeal earlier today. I want to congratulate and thank Senators Lieberman and Collins for their strong bipartisan leadership on this issue. I was proud to be a cosponsor of this bill, and I hope we will soon send it to the President for his signature.

It is not often that the Senate gets the opportunity with a single vote to right a wrong, but we have that opportunity here today. This is a historic vote, one for which this Senate will be remembered for a long time. This is our opportunity to fix an outdated, discriminatory and broken policy and to strengthen America's security. The United States, our military, and our security will be better off because of this legislation.

I completely agree with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who strongly endorsed the repeal and urged the Senate to pass this legislation before the end of the year. Secretary Gates and America's military leadership understand that this discriminatory policy undermines our national security and diminishes our military readiness.

A nation at war is a nation that needs the best, most qualified service members we can find regardless of sexual orientation. At a time when nearly 150,000 American men and women are serving in combat overseas, and at a time when our military is stretched thin across the globe, we simply cannot afford to lose some of our finest soldiers.

Since the policy was instituted in 1993, more than 14,000 service members have been expelled from the military, and an estimated 4,000 service members per year voluntarily leave because of this discriminatory policy. One thousand of those expelled were badly needed specialists with vital mission critical skills, like Arabic speakers and other technical experts.

Don't ask, don't tell also ignores the realities of today's combat environment, where American soldiers are fighting next to allied troops from around the world. In fact, at least 12 nations allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly have fought alongside U.S. service members in Afghanistan. At least 28 countries, including our closest allies, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and Israel, already allow open service.

Not only is this policy costing us critical capabilities, it is also unnecessarily costing us a significant amount of money. The military spends as much as $43,000 to replace each individual charged under the don't ask, don't tell policy. At a time of extremely tight budgets with little money to go around, it just does not make sense to spend tens of thousands of dollars to investigate, try, and replace American soldiers based only on their sexual orientation.

Repeal of this policy has earned the backing of an overwhelming majority of America's Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and countless military leaders, including retired GEN Colin Powell, who says that attitudes and circumstances have changed since the policy was first instituted 17 years ago.

In addition, we now have a good understanding of what our own military men and women feel about the repeal of this policy. The military undertook one of the largest and most comprehensive reviews in its history to make sure those most affected by this change had their views heard and incorporated. The in-depth, 9-month review included a comprehensive survey that was sent to nearly 400,000 active duty and reserve component service members as well as 150,000 military spouses.

The review's final report, released several weeks ago, found that repealing this policy could be accomplished without undermining military readiness and can be initiated immediately. The report found that more than two-thirds of those questioned found that repeal would have no effect on cohesion, effectiveness, unit readiness, or morale.

We used to tell young Americans, ``Don't ask what your country can do for you.'' Yet now we tell the very people who have answered that call, ``don't ask, don't tell.'' This is a civil rights issue. It is a moral issue, and it is a national security issue. Today, the Senate has an historic opportunity to fix this broken and outdated policy.

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