Senate voted to strike funding for F-22 in Dept. of Defense Authorization. Could be helpful for Hate Crimes.

By a vote of 58-40, the Senate just passed an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization to strike funding for the F-22 fighter jet. The amendment was offered by Senators Levin (MI) and McCain (AZ). They had the support of President Obama and Secretary Gates.

So, why does this matter to the LGBT community? Obama vowed to veto the DoD authorization if it includes funding for the F-22. Last week, the Hate Crimes bill was successfully added to the defense bill. Yesterday, leading GOP hatemonger Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III added some additional "unwelcome" language on hate crimes to the defense bill.

So, the Senate defense bill has language we'd want on Hate Crimes (and some we don't), but the bill no longer has language the President didn't want on the F-22. The legislation still has a ways to go before it passes in the Senate, probably by the end of the week. Then, it will go to conference where hopefully the hate crimes language will be included in the final package.