Majority Whip Dick Durbin said the U.S. Senate may be too swamped to work on repealing the ban on openly gay and lesbian military personnel.

"We have a very heavy, busy agenda and a few months left to do it," Durbin said, according to Politico. "So it may not be now, but that doesn't mean it won't be soon."

Rep. Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran who earned a Bronze Star, is the lead sponsor of the House version of the bill, which currently has 150 cosponsors. President Obama and members of his administration have indicated that they are interested in repealing the ban through Congress and not by executive order.

Murphy, 35, is a former prosecutor, West Point professor, and captain in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. In a 2008 hearing on "don't ask, don't tell," Murphy went toe-to-toe with Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, which is fighting to keep the ban in place.