The Senate Armed Services Committee has agreed to hold hearings on Don’t Ask, Don’ Tell (DADT) this fall thanks to a commitment secured by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who is trying to overturn the policy. The agreement comes on the heels of an amendment floated by Sen. Gillibrand two weeks ago which would have placed a temporary moratorium on discharges under DADT. The amendment was never introduced as Gillibrand failed to gather the 60 votes necessary for passage.

This will be first time Congress has evaluated the policy since it was enacted in 1993 under President Clinton. There are also efforts to overturn the DADT in the House under the leadership of Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), an Iraq war veteran.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has withdrawn a proposed amendment that would have placed an 18-month moratorium on discharges under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She simply didn’t have enough votes.

Matt Canter, a Gillibrand spokesperson, told the Blade on Wednesday that the senator determined there weren’t 60 votes available for a vote of cloture on the amendment.

“She was working for about a week to assess support among her colleagues for the measure,” he said. “It does not appear that we’re going to have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. So she’s not going to pursue the moratorium amendment at this time.”

Canter said Gillibrand is working with senators “to continue to highlight the issue and move forward on the issue.”

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) is slated to introduce a bill for full repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in the Senate. In the House, Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) took over as lead sponsor of repeal legislation earlier this month.

Canter said Gillibrand will continue to back Kennedy and Murphy’s efforts to build support for repeal legislation.

While unfortunate, the withdrawal is not completely surprising. The proposed amendment was last minute, and comes at a time when the Senate has been focused on healthcare reform, the DoD authorization bill, and mermaids. Seriously, it had better not been the last one.

On Capitol Hill today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid indicated that he supports NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposed legislation that would place an 18-month moratorium on discharging military personnel under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but wants to take it a step further.

“I would make it permanent,” he [Reid] added, suggesting that he would permanently suspend discharges. “We’re having trouble getting people into the military and I don’t think that we should turn down anybody that’s willing to fight for our country, certainly [not] based on sexual orientation.”

Reid’s comments gave a boost to an amendment that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is considering offering to the DOD legislation that would suspend investigations of soldiers suspected to be gay — thereby stopping discharges of soldiers under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy — until the end of the 111th Congress.

A spokesman for Gillibrand said Monday that the New York Democrat “wholeheartedly supports” full repeal of the military’s gay ban. “This is one avenue she would consider pursuing if there is sufficient support,” said Matt Canter.

Senator Reid’s remarks from his news conference today:

While LGBT groups generally support a moratorium, they consider it a “long shot,” as it would require 60 votes to pass during the next two weeks.

“We are encouraging Senator Gillibrand to explore her options and to reach out to the other senators in the process,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an organization that lobbies for repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

…

The Human Rights Campaign signaled cautious support for the idea. “HRC believes that this temporary repeal amendment should only be offered and voted on if we are confident that there are sufficient votes to advance the issue of permanent repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” said HRC legislative director Allison Herwitt. “It is not yet clear that threshold can be achieved this week.”

Gillibrand’s legislation is expected to be introduced this week.

Featuring images by photographer Jo Ann Santangelo, gay and lesbian veterans discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell share their stories in “I am an American Soldier.” Watch: