Senator Harry Reid Passes the Buck Back to Obama

Guess what’s going on in Washington while Dan Choi, Margaret Witt, and Victor Fehrenbach are fighting for their rights and their livelihoods. They’re playing political games with each other!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaking at a press conference Monday said he has no plans to introduce a bill to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the Senate.

“I haven’t identified any sponsors,” he said. “My hope is that it can be done administratively.”

A Democratic aide later clarified that Reid was speaking about the possibility of using an executive order to suspend discharges or perhaps halting enforcement of the policy by changing departmental regulations within the Department of Defense.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has continually said in recent months that President Barack Obama believes the only “durable solution” to repealing the military’s gay ban would be to do so through legislative action.

Senator Reid also indicated that he is waiting on the House of Representatives to take action on the bill that was introduced there in March.

“If the House moves on this,” he said, “I would be happy to take it up.”

So if you ask the Senate Majority Leader, he says that the White House or the House of Representatives has to start it. If you ask the White House spokesman (President Obama’s far too busy to say the G-word himself), he says that Congress has to start it. If you ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she says she’ll get back to you after they do a bunch of other stuff.

Oh, and if you ask Defense Secretary Gates he says to wait a while, and if you ask at the Pentagon, they just look at you funny.

So don’t worry, bigots! You’re still safe in the US military! You’re even safe in Congress or the White House, for that matter!

UPDATE: On Tuesday afternoon, Think Progress reported that Sen. Reid had clarified his position. Doesn’t change much, but here’s what he had to say:

Today in a statement to ThinkProgress, Reid’s office clarified the senator’s remarks, saying that what he is looking for is a “legislative proposal” from the White House. Additionally, while the Senate does not currently have a bill introduced, “a number” of senators are working on one:

While we do not have a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell bill introduced in the Senate yet, a number of Senators are working on an approach to get it repealed. We would welcome a legislative proposal from the White House on repeal so as to provide clear guidance on what the President would like to see and when. Working together, I believe we can find the time to get repeal done in this Congress.

Others have noted that both the White House and members of Congress have been unusually quiet since last week’s DOMA brief. I wonder if this is a sign that we’re getting through to them that we won’t be left behind. If so, I hope they understand that it’ll take a whole lot more than a few words to shut us up.