Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed a cloture motion on the DREAM Act, setting up a vote that will take place tomorrow. It still remains unclear — if not unlikely — that the legislation will attract the 60 votes needed to limit debate.

One lawmaker who isn’t even on the list of Senate targets is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Despite the fact that he was supportive of the DREAM Act in the past, advocates seem pretty confident that he will stick to his new enforcement-only stance. His daughter — Meghan McCain — however, is slightly more open-minded. Ms. McCain told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell this week that she supports the DREAM Act in theory, but is opposed to the way it is being “jammed” through by Reid:

O’DONNELL: The DREAM Act provides for them a no-cost path to legalization in this country if they should choose it. Is that something you think Republicans should be able to get behind? The Wall Street Journal thinks it’s a good idea.

MCCAIN: I do. I understand and I think the greatest part about being an American is that you can have any education you want. You can be anything you want to be. [...] I worry about the costs. I worry about the legalities of it. But, as a general whole, yes, I do believe that if you’ve been living in this country for five years as a student you should have access to education. [...] I think Harry Reid is trying to jam this through without everyone being able to really analyze what’s really going on in this bill.

But as a general whole yes, I do believe that everyone should have access to any kind of education — especially if you’re going to serve your country in the military. [...] I just don’t know if two weeks away from Christmas with all the things going on in the economy is an appropriate time to be doing this.

Watch it:

Meghan McCain’s hesitations about the DREAM Act don’t really hold water. The DREAM Act has been around since 2001 and you’d think most Republicans would be aware of the changes made to the modified 2010 bill as they were meant to address their concerns. Meanwhile, the CBO found that the DREAM Act would reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over ten years. I’m not sure what McCain is talking about when she refers to the “legality” of the DREAM Act, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that she seems to think it provides “access to education” when what it really does is allow undocumented immigrants who pursue an education (and pay for it themselves) or serve in the military to actually make something of themselves by legally working in the U.S.

Of course, Meghan McCain doesn’t get a vote and she also doesn’t seem to have much influence over her obstinate father — so her qualified support and misinformed concerns about the DREAM Act aren’t really going to affect what happens tomorrow one way or another. However, I predict that, if the DREAM Act fails tomorrow, so-called “moderate” Republicans will be toeing a similar line when the Latino community demands an answer from them in an attempt to minimize the damage done by voting against an issue Latino voters deeply care about.

And, since these arguments don’t hold up, allow me to translate what they really mean: the DREAM Act is a good idea unless it’s being pushed right before Christmas by a Democrat like Harry Reid. It’s a slightly more nuanced message than simply calling it “amnesty.”

Republican Senators have been vigorously complaining that they need as much as two weeks or double or even triple the time taken on previous arms control treaties to debate the New START treaty. They have insisted they need all this time because they need ample time to submit amendments to the treaty, despite the fact that treaties, for all intents and purposes, cannot be amended. For the last two days the START treaty has been before the Senate, yet Republican Senators have still not offered a single amendment. Not one.

Senator John Kerry (D-MA), who has been shepherding the debate on the Senate floor, has become visibly frustrated by the delay tactics. Kerry has made clear that Senate Democrats are ready to vote for the treaty and to vote on amendments. He has repeatedly asked for Republican Senators to come forward and offer amendments. Here is a snapshot of Senator Kerry throughout the day yesterday asking Republicans to bring forth their amendments and growing increasingly outraged at their stalling.

10:30 am: “We don’t have any amendments, we are prepared to vote.”
11:30 am: “The sooner we can get to some of these amendments… we can discover if something is a flaw or not a flaw.”
11:45 am: “We are now almost at lunch time and we don’t have an amendment.”
1:25 pm: “I would ask the senator if he has an amendment that he is prepared to offer?”
2:00 pm: “They say we don’t have time, who haven’t brought an amendment to the floor. I clearly smell the self-fulfilling prophecy strategy going on here.”
3:30 pm: “They just delay, delay, and delay… We’ve been here for a day and we still haven’t had an amendment.”

Watch it:

The delay tactics in many ways represent business as usual in the senate. As the Progress Report explained, Senate Republicans “intent on blocking any Democratic priority…unleashed a litany of superficial excuses to prevent consideration of these particular measures.” Yesterday Vice President Biden in an interview with Andrea Mitchell called out Senate Republicans and demanded they drop their delay tactics.

Do not let — do not stand in the way of the nation’s best interests. Let the Senate vote. Overwhelming, the American people support the START Treaty. Overwhelmingly, the United States Senate supports the START Treaty. It’s clearly in our national interests. Every former national security adviser, secretary of Defense, the secretary of State on the Republican Party from George Shultz to Colin Powell thinks it’s essential we pass this treaty. Get out of the way. There’s too much at stake for America’s national security. And don’t tell me about Christmas. I understand Christmas. I have been a senator for a long time. I’ve been there many years where we go right up to Christmas. There’s 10 days between now and Christmas. I hope I don’t get in the way of your Christmas shopping, but this is the nation’s business. This is the national security that’s at stake. Act. Act.

Watch it:

Last night, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to his daughter Meghan’s claim that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is the civil rights issue of her generation by reiterating the Marine Commandant’s opposition to repeal and suggesting that his son Jimmy McCain — who was a Marine — also opposes lifting the ban:

KING: You mentioned the commandant of the Marine Corps, Senator, I ask this next question not to be disrespectful, but because I know you as someone who takes the long trips, who does the research, who talks to the troops, as well as their bosses. You mentioned the commandant of the Marine Corps, he is against this. Your son has been in the Marines, he has served on the front lines. And this is a often a generational issue. Older Americans have a harder time with this than sometimes younger Americans. What does your son think about this?

MCCAIN: You know, my son is now out of the Marine Corps. The proudest moment of his life is having serving in the Marine Corps. His words to me, as so many thousands of others’ words have been to me: it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

KING: So he wants to keep it just in place as it is right now?

MCCAIN: They believe that it is working and I’m very reluctant to discuss my children’s views.

Watch it:

Interestingly, McCain didn’t say he would filibuster the measure, as his daughter predicted, although Republicans can still try to undermine the measure by calling for amendments or insisting that they will not vote for START if the DADT measure comes up for a vote.

Supporters of repeal, however, as well as Senate aides, believe that they do have 60 votes to move forward. In an appearance on Washington Journal this morning, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) disputed that notion, predicting that cloture would not be granted. “I think it will be at the top of the agenda when we come back in January,” he added.

Cross-posted on The Wonk Room.