We've got not 60 but now 61 members of the U.S. Senate publicly committed to the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell'.

I was very surprised by General Amos's comments. I know he's against the repeal. I respectfully just think he's absolutely wrong. 84 percent of Marines who have served with gay or lesbian -- lesbian Marines say that it has absolutely no…

Yes, I was very surprised by General Amos' comments. I know he's against the repeal. I, respectfully, just think he's absolutely wrong.

That means, Anderson, that we have got not 60, but now 61 members of the U.S. Senate publicly committed to the repeal of don't ask, don't tell.

It would be disappointing, to the point of infuriating, if, with that kind of support in the Senate, having passed the House today, that the repeal of don't ask, don't tell is not accomplished before Christmas.

I think that the -- the overall movement to end discrimination against our fellow Americans, based on their sexual orientation, is the front lines today of the civil rights movement.

If we don't repeal don't ask, don't tell in this 111th session of Congress, the new Congress, I'm afraid, is not going to repeal it, and then we will have to depend on the courts to repeal it.

If we don't repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' in this 111th Session of Congress, the new Congress, I'm afraid, is not going to repeal it, and then we'll have to depend on the courts to repeal it.

I have been saying this. People thought I was puffing, but I knew I had those votes, and I know I have got at least one more Republican who will come with me.

Well, most thrilling is the vote in the House of Representatives, which acted on our stand-alone bill, passed the repeal by a larger margin than when the repeal was adopted by the House in May, and picked up 10 more Republicans.

I rise today to speak about the Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010, H.R. 6278. In particular, I wish to describe the legislative history and intent of this act. Earlier this year, essentially identical legislation, H.R. 2092, passed…

Yes, I do. And I understand that feeling. Look, if the opponents of repeal of 'don't ask don't tell' are so much against 'don't ask don't tell' that they're willing to stop the whole Defense Authorization bill by filibustering every…

Yes, I do. And I understand that feeling. Look, if -- if the opponents of repeal of don't ask, don't tell are so much against don't ask, don't tell that they're willing to stop the whole defense authorization bill by filibustering every…

I'm -- I'm confident that we will get more than 60 votes.

I think we should challenge them by staying in and continuing to work on the bill, to really decide whether they -- they're so much against the repeal of 'don't ask don't tell' after the Pentagon study made it clear it will not compromise…

Well, it sure looks like that to me.

This is too important, both the defense bill itself to support our military and the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, which people agree in our caucus really is the major civil rights legislation before this 211th Congress.

We have got the time to take up the underlying defense bill, which is very important to our military.

The U.S. military has a proud tradition of leading and reflecting the best values of America.

One of the things that we lost or wasted when the military had to evict 14,000 people from the military because they were gay or lesbian is the money we invested in training them.

I remain convinced that it is critically important to get a better understanding of where our soldiers and families are on the issue.

Success in America, in the military, is based not on who you are but what you do.

This policy, 'don't ask, don't tell', is a stain on the honor and values of the American military and we ought to remove it as quickly as possible.

I think it is un-American. The basic American value, to me, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence is that we're all created equal.

I know there are more than 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to adopt the defense authorization bill, including the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell.' The only thing that will stop us is time and that would be a shame.