Senator McCain Comes Out Against Repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
BALDWIN: Looking here, we have 25 seconds before this vote is officially finished and about 231 now voting on the floor of the House. The question is, is this essentially DOA in the House. What will happen in the Senate? I want to bring in Wolf Blitzer who is in Washington. Let me ask you a logistical question. What happens next?</s>WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Hello?</s>BALDWIN: Wolf, can you hear me?</s>BLITZER: Reporter: Now I can hear you. I wasn't hearing you before.</s>BALDWIN: My question is this, now that the vote is officially finished, logistically speaking, what is next?</s>BLITZER: Well, it's a little bit of a theater, as Dana has been talking about, because it's probably not going to pass in the U.S. Senate and as a result they will have to work on a compromise that will allow the tax rates for the wealthy to go forward for two years, maybe three years. It's not going to be a permanent arrangement. They are going to kick the ball down the road a little bit. But it will give the negotiators, the president has designated his budget director to work with the Republican leadership on the hill hoping to get a compromise. And by all accounts, they are getting closer and closer to that compromise that would allow the tax rates to continue for everyone for the next two, maybe three years. But as I say, right now, what the Democrats have managed to do in the House of Representatives, they have on record the fact that the Democrats, by and large, they support making the tax rates -- the Bush tax rates for the middle class, those earning under $250,000 a year, permanent. The Republicans voted against that. So they will be able to argue, well, the Republicans voted against it. The Republicans argue we voted against it because we want all of the tax rates for everyone to be made permanent. So it's a little bit of political theater going on right now. Everyone is still getting ready for the compromise that presumably will be in the works.</s>BALDWIN: Looking at this vote, Wolf, and at these numbers here, we still have on the floor of the House 167 nays. What do you make of that number?</s>BLITZER: Those are the Republicans by and large, who say, you know, they want all of the taxpayers, everybody who has to pay IRS taxes, they want all of the tax rates that were approved in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration to continue as is. So it's a little bit of a debate going on, a little bit of what Republicans like to call "class warfare," differentiating between the rich and the middle class, if you will. So it's an interesting development. But I think it still requires, if they are going to go forward in this lame-duck session, it's going to require a compromise on the part of the Democrats and the Republicans on the other on what to do with the tax rates, because if they don't pass formal legislation between now and the end of the year, everyone's tax rates will go back to what they were during the Clinton administration, which is a little bit higher than those 2001-2003 tax rates.</s>BALDWIN: If they don't act come December 31, all of our taxes go up. So that is one huge story that we're following out of Washington. Mr. Blitzer, the floor is yours. What else do you have on the Political Ticker?</s>BLITZER: Well, right now the taxes are very significant, and another significant development, the hearings before the Senate armed services committee on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the policy that forbids gays from serving openly in the United States military. And John McCain is the ranking Republican on the committee saying this is not a good time to change the policy right now. He says it's not a good time for combat personnel, those young combat soldiers and marines in Iraq and Afghanistan to be forced into changing the policy right now. He doesn't like it. At this time he said we should be inherently cautious about making any changes that would affect our military and what changes we do make should be made with careful and deliberate consideration. Secretary Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mullen testified saying that it's a good time to change the policy but McCain strongly disagrees. What will be interesting is what is going to happen tomorrow when some of the other chiefs will be testifying, including the marine core general who opposes getting rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell right now. So that will be interesting. We know that the chairman of the armed services committee, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, supports getting rid of the policy. One final thing that is moving on the CNN Ticker right now, CNN politics, Newt Gingrich singling that he's irritated are Michael Steele, saying that -- he's been supportive of Steele in the past. He's saying that Steele, whoever is the new chairman, especially if it's Steele, would be a very strong number two to deal with the fundraising and administrative issues. Apparently they feel Steele hasn't been that strong. He hasn't yet announced whether he's going to seek re-election as chairman of the RNC. A lot of people think he will but he's facing stiff competition. A lot of Republican leaders are lining up to challenge him.</s>BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer with what is hot off the Political Ticker. We've got to go. Hour two is coming up in just a moment. We've got a sneak a quick break in. We'll be right back.