Military Myopia

The lead story in today’s New York Times, “Senators Vote to Block Debate on Military Bill,” demonstrates how bad the paralysis in the Senate has truly become. Both sides are talking past each other, like they were in two different rooms, or more accurately, two different realities.

The Democrats, desperately trying to position themselves for the mid-term elections, when they face a net loss of seats (though I’m not convinced they will lose majority control of either the House or Senate), attached two riders to a military appropriations bill regarding “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the Dream Act, allowing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have served in the military or completed two years of higher education.

The Republicans cried foul, especially since they were prohibited from adding any amendments to the bill themselves — and, of course, they would have engaged in the same political maneuvering as the Democrats.

The bill will probably come up again after the elections in a lame duck session of Congress when the mood of the voters can be more accurately discerned. In any case, the “don’t ask, don’t tell” provision is cxurrently under study by the Pentagon, and it makes sense to wait until the study is completed.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are planning another political vote to require greater disclosure by corporations donating to campaigns, a new problem after the Supreme Court vote opening the floodgates to corporate contributions and overturning years of precedents in the process.