The Advocate caught up with Sen. Joe Lieberman briefly Thursday and he answered several questions about "don't ask, don't tell" that indicate just how consuming health care has been. Also, the jury still seems to be out on whether a stand-alone repeal bill will be introduced in the Senate.


The Advocate: Are you still talking to the White House about “don’t ask, don’t tell?”
Lieberman: I haven’t in a while — my staff was over about two or three weeks ago. To state the obvious, both they and I have been preoccupied with another matter. Originally, there was talk that Armed Services was going to do a hearing this year but then that also got pushed back. So I expect that we’ll come back to it next year and maybe consider it in the context of the overall Defense authorization.

Do you like that idea?
I’m weighing it. I mean, it fits there, and it's part of a broader bill that almost always moves through, but I honestly haven’t reached a final conclusion on it. I think that’s part of what — all of us who support repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” want to sort of weigh the different options.

So doing a separate repeal bill is still in the offing?
It’s still a possibility.