WASHINGTON - May 28 - U.S. Senator Russ Feingold released the following statement after the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House of Representatives voted to end the ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy yesterday.

"We are now a couple steps closer to repealing a law that wrongly discriminates against patriotic Americans who want to serve their country.  Discrimination has no place in American society, especially when it undermines our national security by hampering military readiness.  I applaud my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House of Representatives for voting to repeal the law banning gays from the military and I look forward to an end to this harmful policy."

Senator Feingold sent a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee in March 2010 urging the committee to repeal ‘Don't Ask, Don't Tell'.  Feingold is also a cosponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010, which would repeal the law.