Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has expressed his support of a proposal to stop the discharges of openly gay and lesbian servicemembers, according to the Washington Post. The measure, suggested by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would place an 18-month moratorium on the Pentagon policy. Reid made the announcement at a press briefing regarding a hate crimes bill up for vote in the Senate.

Reid said the only difference he had with Gillibrand’s proposal is that he’d make it permanent, according to the Advocate. “We’re having trouble getting people into the military and I don’t think that we should turn down anybody that’s willing to fight for our country, certainly [not] based on sexual orientation.” said Reid.

The moratorium idea has met with some skepticism in the past few days. Both the Senate and House Armed Services Committee said that they would need to confer with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff before taking action on the bill.  Also, the Human Rights Campaign has stated that they would only support the temporary repeal if Congressional leaders are confident there are sufficient votes to pass a full repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”