Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan pushed the idea of putting a moratorium on discharges under “don’t ask, don’t tell” during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday on the Army's defense authorization request for fiscal year 2011.

Levin, who chairs the committee, kicked off questioning on the gay ban by asking Secretary of the Army John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey Jr. whether they would “object” to halting all discharges under the policy while a plan for implementation of repeal is being formulated.

McHugh initially responded that if Congress and President Barack Obama instructed the Army to stop discharges, “I can’t see that we would object to that.” But later McHugh added, “This process is going to be difficult and complicated enough — anything that complicates it more I think I would be opposed to.”

Levin responded curtly, “Well, if we do that, we'll try to make it simple and straightforward."

Casey advised against that tactic, saying it would “complicate” the implementation review process that Gates had set in motion.

“We would be put in the position of actually implementing it while were studying the implementation,” he said.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the ranking member on the committee, was the only GOP senator to engage in a serious line of questioning about the policy.

“Senator Levin just said now instead of going through the study that the secretary of Defense has called for, there are forces who want to impose a moratorium before any decision is made,” McCain said.

McCain then pressed McHugh again to offer his personal feedback on the effects of passing a moratorium.

“If you're asking for my personal opinion as to the effects of a moratorium, we have any number or cases under way pursuant to the current law that would be greatly complicated,” answered McHugh.

Levin followed up by asking which cases might be problematic, and McHugh cited the proceedings surrounding Army lieutenant Dan Choi’s discharge.

In his final comments McCain bemoaned the inclusion of LGBT measures in defense funding bills.

“Unfortunately, last year we put hate crimes on the defense authorization — for the first time in history, we put legislation that didn't have anything to do with the defense authorization in on an authorization bill,” he said, “and I'm greatly concerned about what could be put in this authorization bill since the precedent was shattered last year by the majority.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell” was originally passed in 1993 as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill.