We know that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has rejected the new compromise policy on birth control access, and that the Republican leadership agrees with them. But does that mean they have a chance to shift policy legislatively? The chances of that took a severe blow today, when Maine Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins came out in favor of the Obama Administration’s new rules.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), is holding a major hearing on whether the United States is safer ten years after the September 11th attacks. Homeland Security Department Janet Napolitano, FBI Director Robert Mueller and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen will be testifying before the committee.

The Gang of 6 announces they have reached a deal, and the President is praising it.

Republicans are getting worried that corporations might have to admit that they give money to Republicans. Much like the Chamber of Commerce is worried that corporations might have to admit that they give money to the Chamber of Commerce. They are all just very ashamed of themselves, I guess. So they’re trying to stop the Obama Administration from delivering an executive order that would force government contractors to disclose their political donations.

So, like all good conservatives looking for a legal patina for their theories, they’ve turned to John Yoo.

The thing Republicans smartly did was to propose and pass the Ryan budget in the House in a week; because the health care bill took months to get off the ground, conservative activists were able to have plenty of time to mount a counter-offensive. The thing Republicans did not do so smartly was pass a bill that ended Medicare without having the Senate or the Presidency; now, that bill will linger, and continue to be a ripe subject for criticism.

The House passage of the standalone bill that would effect a legislative repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell leads to the worst words in the English language: “The bill now moves to the Senate.” But there’s some reason for optimism. It sure looks like the votes are there to get this done. But that doesn’t always mean everything in the Senate.

Senate leadership has planned a vote on a free-standing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell legislative repeal, unencumbered by the defense authorization bill, to come to the floor sometime in the lame duck session, perhaps next week. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins are co-sponsoring the bill, which will have the same language as what was in the defense authorization bill. Harry Reid will co-sponsor as well, and they will use Rule 14 to bypass the Senate Armed Services Committee and bring it directly to the floor.

Alas, the final vote was 57-40. Reid, I’m assuming, voted no on procedural reasons, so he can reconsider it later. But I’d say DADT repeal is dead for the year.

It’s very interesting to see how things are lining up in the Senate. You had the food safety bill pass with 73 votes. Scott Brown came out today in favor of repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The DREAM Act will get a vote next week, with somewhat persistent White House backing. The new START arms reduction treaty appears to have picked up legitimate Republican support, with 9 Republicans publicly signaling support. If you didn’t know better, you’d say there was an outbreak of bipartisanship in the Senate.

But all of this is happening under a threat of total obstruction.

Bob Gates successfully convinced Brown on the implementation process, which should concern people a bit, especially as Gates might not be around to do the implementation. Gates did say that he would not “slow-walk” things, but what about his successor? What if a President Palin reaches office without implementation in place, and she just never certifies it? I don’t know if that’s likely, but it’s something to watch.