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 Bid To Revive Federal Gay Hate Crime Bill
by The Associated Press
Posted: April 23, 2008 - 9:00 am ET
(Washington) A senior Senate Democrat says that
he wants to use a major defense policy bill to expand federal hate crimes laws
to protect gays, bring troops home from Iraq and force Baghdad to pay more
toward reconstruction costs.
The effort would raise the flag on major issues
favored by the party's base. But only the reconstruction provision is considered
to have a chance at passing - and even that proposal's prospects would depend
heavily on Republican cooperation.
Slim margins in Congress, particularly in the
Senate where 60 votes are needed to overcome procedural hurdles, have kept
Democrats from enacting much of their legislative agenda since taking control
last year.
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, suggested Democrats will try anyway, starting with a measure
that would prohibit U.S. money from being spent on reconstruction and possibly
other war-related costs. Levin, D-Mich., who plans to meet this week with
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the issue, says Iraq should use its massive
oil profits to cover rebuilding efforts.
GOP lawmakers have signaled a willingness to back
such a measure, depending on how it is written. Republican Sens. Susan Collins,
Bob Corker of Tennessee and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire have proposed separate
proposals that call for Iraq or its neighbors to pay more for reconstruction.
Levin's measure would be proposed as part of the
2009 defense authorization bill, policy legislation that guides defense spending
and the acquisition and management of all military programs.
The Democratic chairman also said he hopes a
broader hate-crimes law becomes part of the debate. Last year, Democrats tried
to attach a similar measure to the defense authorization bill but backed down
after Republican protests threatened to sink the bill.
"Diversity and tolerance and hate crimes
runs smack against what the men and women of the American armed forces fight
for," Levin told reporters Tuesday.
In addition, Democrats are expected to revive
legislation that would force President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq by a
certain date. Levin said this proposal could be offered on the defense
authorization bill, or earlier when the Senate considers a separate war spending
bill.
Democrats have repeatedly failed to pass such
legislation in the past, falling short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate.
The committee plans to complete the defense
authorization bill by the end of next week, with a floor vote expected by the
end of May.
On a separate matter, Levin was preparing a
letter to Gates calling for the Defense Department to end a public relations
effort that relied on retired military officers to defend the administration's
war policies and tout progress being made in Iraq.
According to a report this week by The New York
Times, the officers - acting as military analysts for major news outlets - were
given plum access to the Pentagon with regular briefings by then-Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a sponsored trip to the much-criticized military
prison Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Levin said his primary concern is that many of
these officers were working for defense contractors at the time and were given
unfettered access to the Defense Department in exchange for speaking favorably
about the war.
"This is very clear evidence of conflicts of
interest ... and it's very disturbing," Levin said.
©365Gay.com 2008
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