How Sen. Mark Udall Will Prevent More Obama Heckling, Loitering at 1600 Pennsylvania

Even though Defense Department officials are supposedly begging lawmakers to wait until their 10-month review of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is completed this winter, some elected officials just aren’t willing to stand by. That includes Colorado’s Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It’s Udall, along with committee chairman with Sen. Carl Levin, who’s joining the push to include a repeal in DoD’s budget bill, which begins its fun first round of mark up next month, in an admirable bit of momentum that comes after he sat down with three gay veterans including former Air Force Maj. Mike Almy. But what about push back from the White House, et. al?

“I’m going to push everybody possible to see this happens this year. We’ve had this discussion long enough,” Udall says. “The Pentagon has taken some big forward steps that they’ve never been willing to take. I don’t under estimate the steps they’re taking, but in the end we need to change the law.”