McCain also said if Obama acted unilaterally, it would “undermine the Constitution of the United States”. “If he doesn’t, Democrats aren’t going to stick their necks out”. “But we gotta be realistic about the people who are in Guantanamo Bay”. By the Miami Herald’s count, there are 27 of these “forever prisoners”.
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Created in 2002 at a US Navy base on the southeastern tip of Cuba, it now holds 112 “war on terror” prisoners, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“As Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am especially proud that this bill once again recognizes Arizona’s important contributions to the military and ensures our state continues to play an outsized role in defending the nation. We only received replies from one of them, and these replies were, in fact, entirely redacted by the authorities”.
The U.S. Senate passed an annual defense bill that adds fresh restrictions to the transfer of detainees out of Guantanamo Bay. She appeared on Fox News on Tuesday to discuss her support for a bipartisan bill that would block President Obama from shuttering Guantanamo Bay. The question is whether Congress can tell the president where military detainees must be held. Obama could force the matter through executive action, but federal law prevents the transfer of prisoners to the United States. Nevertheless, the option has not been taken off of the table. Jen Bendery contributed reporting.
Congress has repeatedly thwarted Obama’s effort to fulfill a 2008 campaign promise to close the military prison. “But that certainly does not reflect a change in our position or the intensity of our position about the need to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the need for Congress to actually cooperate with us in doing so”.
The Senate voted 91-3 on the $607-billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which lays out broad defense policy requirements and restrictions.
The White House has yet to unveil its plan for closing the facility.
Earnest said that the president will sign the bill based on the “practical reality of what the votes look like”.
The new version of the NDAA, passed in both chambers by veto-proof majorities, will be signed by Obama, as predicted Tuesday by White House spokesman Josh Earnest at his daily press conference.
“The president believes closing that prison is a national security priority”.
“This is going to be an ongoing bone of contention between the president and Congress and whether or not the president decides to risk the use of executive order to override the Congress on this and whether or not that in fact is legal”, Dankof said. “This is not going to deter the department from moving forward”. “The president feels strongly about that”.
Obama called the Guantanamo provisions “counterproductive” but did not say he would use his veto pen.
Last month, Obama vetoed an earlier version of the NDAA for the first time during his presidency.
Just three senators voted against the bill: Sens.
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The administration has been openly making plans to transfer the 59 most unsafe detainees to the United States.
