Lieberman: "This ain't over."

 WASHINGTON--In a highly-charged vote, Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a major defense bill Tuesday in part because it included a provision to repeal the Pentagon's ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.

Proponents of the measure, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, failed to win any Republican support and even lost two Democrats on the issue, leaving them four votes short of the 60 needed to break a GOP filibuster.

"This ain't over," Lieberman said Tuesday. He and others vowed to revive the issue after the November elections, when Congress will likely come back to Washington for a lame-duck session. After the outcome was clear, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched his vote to "No," in a procedural move that will allow him to bring the bill back up again later this session.

Lieberman was a lead sponsor of an amendment in the bill to overturn the so-called Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which allows the military to discharge any openly-homosexual member in its ranks.

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