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In a show of resolve, a baker’s dozen of Democratic senators, led by Joseph I. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, held a news conference to proclaim that they had secured the votes to authorize repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding gay soldiers.

But the senators said that the crucial support of Republicans would hinge on whether Senate leaders allow a relatively free-flowing debate on the military policy bill that includes the language authorizing repeal of the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military – and they urged the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to do so.

Mr. Reid said on Wednesday that he would bring the bill to the floor, including the repeal provisions, in a direct challenge to Senator John McCain of Arizona, the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, who has indicated that he will try to block the measure. Mr. McCain similarly led colleagues in stopping the bill in September.

Some of those Republican colleagues, however, have said that they favor repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and that their previous opposition was based on Mr. Reid’s limiting both the amount of time for debate and the number of amendments that they could offer.

But it is unclear if Mr. Reid will be able to meet their demands, given the extremely tight Congressional calendar between now and the end of the year, or that the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is willing to make any agreement on the length of debate or number of amendments that could be offered to the measure.

“The movement to end the injustice of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is alive and well, and we are going to keep fighting – in the spirit of the American military – until we get the job done,” Mr. Lieberman said. “And we will get the job done.”

Mr. Lieberman added, “One of the things we are doing today is to appeal to Senator Reid and Senator McConnell to negotiate a fair and open amendment process on the Department of Defense authorization bill to allow it to come up.”

Mr. Lieberman conceded, however, that he had made no progress in convincing Mr. McCain, a close friend of his, to withdraw his opposition, meaning that to surmount a filibuster, 60 senators must vote to cut off debate on a motion to proceed.

“I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared to take up the defense authorization bill with the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ if only there will be a guarantee of a fair and open amendment process,” Mr. Lieberman said.

Time, however, is running out. The House has already approved its version of the military policy bill, including the repeal language, which would have to be reconciled with the Senate measure, if and when it is approved.

Leaders of the new House Republican majority, who take over at the start of the next Congress in January, have indicated that repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is not a priority for them, making it unlikely they would approve the bill again. That means if the repeal language is not approved by the end of this year, it is effectively dead.

Senator Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado, said he would be willing to work through Christmas Eve to get the legislation done, prompting Mr. Lieberman, who is Jewish, to say he would work through the eighth night of Hanukkah.

(Mr. Udall’s schedule was more realistic; the last night of Hannukah is Dec. 9, and debate on the bill may not even start before then.)

Among the 13 senators to voice support for repealing ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was Al Franken of Minnesota, who recalled visits to military bases in his previous career as a comedian and the jokes he made ridiculing the policy, which he said were well received by soldiers.

The Pentagon is due to release a report by Dec. 1, including a survey of active duty military service members and their families, showing that a majority do not oppose open service by gay and lesbian soldiers.

But despite the support for repeal from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, some senior military commanders and lawmakers want to continue ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, said that the demands for a fair amendment process were simply cover for efforts by Mr. McCain and others to block repeal of the policy.

“This is not about how many amendments are we going to do, or how long we are going to debate,” Ms. Shaheen said. “This is about those who oppose this policy wanting to kill it and taking every opportunity they can and using the Senate rules to do that. That’s exactly what is going on.”

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