Obama Expected to Sign Bill Banning Guantanamo Bay Detainees From Transferring to US
President Barack Obama is expected to sign an annual military funding bill that includes language forbidding the government from moving detainees from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to the United States.
In a 91-3 vote, the Senate approved the $607 billion defense policy bill on Tuesday, which includes provisions that ban the transfer of prisoners to U.S. soil, even for prosecution or to be detained in another prison, reports The New York Times. It also tightens restrictions on transferring detainees to other countries, and prevents the government from building or modifying an American prison to house detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The House passed the bill last week in a bipartisan vote, 370-58.
The White House said Obama would sign the bill, despite the fact that he has been fighting to transfer prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. in order to close the terrorist detention center, as he promised to do during his run for president in 2008.
However, even if the president signs the bill into law, White House press secretary Josh Earnest suggested last week that Obama may consider using his executive authority to shut down Guantanamo.
"I'm not aware of any ongoing effort to devise a strategy using only the president's executive authority to accomplish this goal, but I certainly wouldn't, as I mentioned last week, take that option off the table," Earnest said, according to The Associated Press. "I don't think this has any material impact on our ability to put together and send to Congress a thoughtful, carefully considered plan for closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, and a plan that we believe merits the strong support of both Democrats and Republicans."
However, Republicans argue that bringing the Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. would endanger American citizens.
"Why in the world you would bring these enemy combatants to domestic soil is mind-boggling. This is absolutely nothing short of gambling national security to keep a campaign promise," said GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on Monday.
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