Hill Panel Votes to Delay Gays in the Military

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush departing for its maiden deployment. (/AP Photo)

A House panel approved a defense bill early Thursday that would delay President Barack Obama's new policy allowing gays to serve openly in the military and limit the commander in chief's authority on slashing the nation's nuclear arsenal.

By a vote of 60-1, the House Armed Services Committee approved the broad, $553 billion defense blueprint that would provide a 1.6 percent increase in military pay, fund an array of aircraft, ships and submarines, slightly increase health care fees for working-age retirees and meet the Pentagon's request for an additional $118 billion to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The lone no vote was Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif.

The Republican-controlled panel challenged the Democratic president on scores of issues, from building an extra fighter jet engine to his decision-making on the fate of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Emotions were raw over whether Pakistan was complicit in protecting al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden deep inside the country, but the committee rejected an effort to cut $100 million from the $1.1 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars for the reluctant ally in the terrorist fight. The effort failed on a voice vote.

Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., the committee chairman, said the U.S.-Pakistani relationship is tenuous and cutting funds could further damage ties. "We have to use some constraint," McKeon said.

/AP Photo

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows... View Full Size

/AP Photo

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush departing for its maiden deployment.

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Days after U.S. commandos killed bin Laden, Garamendi introduced and then withdrew an amendment to accelerate the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Under his measure, the number of troops would be reduced by 90 percent by the end of 2013. He promised to take up the issue in the full House.

Obama is nearing a decision on the size and pace of U.S. troop withdrawals that he has promised will begin in July. War-weary lawmakers are pushing for deeper and faster reductions, citing both the killing of bin Laden and a U.S. military operation costing $10 billion a month.

The House will consider the bill the week of May 23, with lawmakers certain to revive many of the budget and political fights that marked the committee's 16 hours of sometimes rancorous debate.

In a series of contentious votes, the panel added provisions that strike at repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The votes came even as Americans increasingly support an end to the 17-year-old ban, with polls finding three-quarters say openly gay men and women should be allowed to serve in the military.

The committee, on a 33-27 vote, adopted an amendment by Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., R-Calif., that would require all four service chiefs to certify that the change won't hurt troops' ability to fight. The repeal law only requires certification from the president, defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs chairman.

"I want them to sign off on the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell,'" Hunter said of the military leaders, arguing that Obama never served in the military, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, has never been in ground combat and Defense Secretary Robert Gates is a political appointee. "I, and others in this room, have more combat experience than the folks who sign off on 'don't ask, don't tell.'"

That drew a rebuke from Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the committee.