senate bill 1390, taken up on july 13th. considered 340 amendments and passed it ten days later. that's actually unusually long. in other years the time frame is even shorter. according to democratic congressional staffers who crunched the numbers, since 1990 there have only been four other occasions where passing a defense reauthorization has taken more than a week. norman ornstein agrees, adding that on occasion such bills have been adopted after just a day or two. so keeping them honest, lawmakers are free to support or oppose repealing don't ask don't tell as they see fit on the merits of it, but to say they don't have enough time to consider it, that doesn't wash. what's more, although the senate does adjourn on the 17th, there's no reason it has to. senators passed health care reform on christmas eve last year. most americans work basically up until christmas eve. this year a number of senators who support ending don't ask don't tell want to extend the session again. among them is independent senator joe lieberman of