Human Rights Campaign: McCain is "Obstructionist" to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal

The debate over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is expected to be one of the key issues of Congress' lame duck session as a Pentagon study is due to be released within weeks. On Tuesday's "Washington Unplugged," Bob Schieffer spoke with Brian Moulton of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign about the fate of the military's policy on gays in the Senate.

"The legislative calendar is short and there are a lot of issues on the table, but we are pushing as hard as we can every day to get the Senate leadership to bring up the Defense Legislative Bill with the repeal of DADT in it - the long standing and discriminatory policy," Moulton said.

The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny said politically it will be hard for President Obama to make any major changes in the coming months. "It is difficult for the president to do anything with this new Congress. I am not sure that Senator McCain is moveable on this," he said. "I am not sure how much that they are willing to invest in this because there are a lot of things on their plate."

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has led much of the Senate Republican opposition to repealing the ban on gay troops serving openly, which has brought the ire of groups calling for its repeal. "Senator McCain seems to keep moving the goal on this," Moulton told Schieffer. "Absolutely, Senator McCain is a tremendous block for the movement of this issue and it seems like we have done everything to satisfy him and he is just being an obstructionist."

"The good thing about this issue is that we are really close to the finish line," Moulton said. "We have folks out in the field across the country in key Senator states trying to move along moderate Republicans."

Moulton continued, "We do think that it is an important priority that should get done and certainly DADT repeal couldn't be more important for our community."

Watch Washington Unplugged above, also featuring interviews with Reps.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.) and Hansen Clarke (D-Mich.) and this week's "Plugged In" with Politico's Kiki Ryan.