up what is a democratic kind of congratulatory news conference on the hill, congratulating each other for getting past this cloture vote on don t ask, don t tell. they needed 60 votes they got 63, six were crossover republicans. what happens next? a straight up or down vote on repealing don t ask, don t tell. a little bit of breaking news here. we re told that will happen today, today during our 3:00 hour we will go live to the senate floor and show you the senators supposedly going to vote up or down on don t ask, don t tell. a historic saturday for the u.s. military here at cnn and across the nation, of course, as they vote on allowing gay servicemen and service women to openly serve this country in the armed forces. we ll continue to follow this and we ll be right back after this.
thanking my chairman of the armed services committee carl levin for leadership, principle leadership throughout this. my colleagues i almost said mo. mo is here really. her dad is here in spirit. i remember talking to him about this in 1976 and he was right there on the right side. senator who stood with me throughout. i want to thank the six republicans to bucked what seemed like a party position, but it shouldn t be a party position. repealing don t ask, don t tell is the right thing to do whether you re a liberal, conservative, democrat or republican, it s consistent with the best american values. so i want to thank senator susin collins, lisa murkowski, scott brown. keep saying might have a few we don t know about. mark kirk and george voinovich came through today. finally to thank joe and the human rights campaign and aubrey
don t ask, adopt tell and the dream act. kate bolduan waiting for a gift and i think he got one. reporter: i m sure the president is not unhappy about seeing this move forward on don t ask, don t tell poll sichlt i m waiting for a comment, a paper statement from the white house. i assure you, if we do get reaction from the white house it will be applauding they are moving forward with the potential of repealing don t ask, don t tell. this is something president obama has long fought for, vowed and promised he would do. back from the campaign, that was one of his campaign promises that he would repeal the don t ask, don t tell poll sichlt as y policy. as you mentioned, he shouldn t be in washington. earned be heading for hawaii. he will stay in washington as long as congress is in session. as congress is influx, so are the president s vacation plans mpl the president did sign the continuing resolution, a short-term spending bill the
senate passed in a late night vote last night, a short-term spending bill to keep funded through tuesday. the president did that today. today s business, the business at hand, president obama wants to see his top priorities through. as mentioned, that includes repealing don t ask, don t tell. you can be assured the white house has all eyes on that looking forward also ratification of the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty. that s something the president is pushing before congress leaves the holiday. that s something he discussed in his weekly internet and radio address. we ve taken time to get this right. the s.t.a.r.t. treaty has been under review for 17 months. it s gone through 18 hearings. nearly 1,000 questions have been asked and answered. several republican senators have come out in support of ratification. meanwhile further delay comes at a cost. every minute we drag our feet is a minute that we have no
received and will receive. we re going to hear from the president of the human rights campaign. by the way, as i mentioned to people today, he had great nevada connections, worked for the senate of nevada. executive director of service members legal defense fund, hear from a discharged air force major. joe. thanks very much harry. your words were right on target. i don t have much to add except to thank you for your leadership. without your commitment to get don t ask, don t tell repealed, this wouldn t have happened today. you worked with us. when you realized we had the votes, i m not going to let the opponents of don t ask, don t tell run ow the clock on us, this is too important. you filed cloture, brought it to a vote. the result was there after the vote today. i also want to join you in