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McCain: Study of ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal Takes Wrong Approach

Sen. John McCain criticized an upcoming Pentagon report on repealing the military’s ban on openly gay service members, saying Sunday that it asks the wrong questions.

“Once we get this study, we need to have hearings and we need to examine it and we need to look at whether it’s the kind of study that we wanted,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It isn’t, in my view, because I wanted a study to determine the effects of the repeal on battle effectiveness and morale. What this study is designed to do is to find out how the repeal could be implemented. Those are two very different aspects.”

McCain said he does not believe the Senate should hold a vote on repealing the policy in the lame-duck session, which starts this week, because he wants lawmakers to have time to review the study and hold hearings on it. The report on the ban, known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” is expected to be completed by Dec. 1.

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