The Defense authorization bill has been on the Senate calendar, and off the Senate calendar.

Now it’s on again.

The Senate majority leader is now promising to bring a 2011 defense authorization bill to the floor for a vote. Senator Harry Reid reportedly says it will happen right after the Thanksgiving break, and will include a measure repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

There has been a question as to whether this lame-duck Congress would take any action on a new defense spending bill.

Politico says Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin asked Reid to make a motion on the Bill after the release of a DoD report which is due on December first. The report will look at the effects of repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats appeared together today urging a repeal of the policy that bans gays in the military. One of those was Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman says he’s confident there will be enough votes to allow debate on the bill, and to defeat any effort to strip the provision repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily DoD Report brought to you by Dell. For more defense news, click here.

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