Republicans signal delay on 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

Two prominent Senate Republicans indicated Sunday that it is unlikely that the ban on gays serving openly in the military known as "don't ask, don't tell" will be overturned in the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the ranking GOP member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on the NBC News program Meet the Press that he opposes using the lame-duck session to debate a repeal of the law.

Referring to the Pentagon study on the imact of removing restrictions on gay military service, McCain said, "I think once this study comes out in the beginning of December, we should at least have a chance to review it and maybe have hearings on it."

Moreover, McCain said that he wants an additional study conducted on the impact that ending the ban would have on "battlefield effectiveness and morale" of the military.

On the CNN program State of the Union, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, pointed out that the lame-duck session has to deal with pending appropriations bills for the current fiscal year and the decision on whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts.

"I don't think there's a lot of time and a lot of appetite to jam things through," said Cornyn in response to a question about repealing DADT. "I expect we're going to have a continued debate about this when we see" the Defense report.