It also calls on the White House to send Congress a plan on how it plans to close the facility and handle future detainees.
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The White House said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama will veto the $612 billion defense authorization bill if it is passed in Congress because of the “irresponsible way” it boosts military spending.
Sen. McCain was happy the bill extends ban on torture. It’s a right step in the right direction”, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., said.”There’s one thing we didn’t do: “we didn’t solve sequestration”.
Members said their compromise bill includes reforms on military retirement, personnel costs and Pentagon acquisition; strikes the right balance on controversial policy points like USA reliance on Russian rocket technology and Guantanamo; and provides avenues for direct lethal assistance to Ukraine and the Kurds. “If the administration complains about the provisions on Guantanamo, then it’s their fault because they never come forward with a plan”.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., center, walks to procedural votes and debates in the House on a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown, Wednesday, September 30, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
The bill requires the Obama administration to “report on the risks associated with his planned drawdown of coalition forces from Afghanistan”.
But Republicans charge that Democrats are “holding the defense authorization as a hostage”, in the words of Rules committee member Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), “to get non-defense spending”.
With the threat of shutdown defused, Republican leaders in Congress are turning toward talks with Obama over a long-term budget agreement for the remainder of fiscal year 2016, and potentially beyond. The White House has threatened to veto a bill that allocates the additional funding to the OCO account.
The NDAA is expected to reach the House and Senate floor on Thursday, just in time for the new fiscal year, October 1. It includes an additional $600 million to train-and-equip Syrian rebels, specifying that the administration must get approval for each withdrawal it makes.
Moreover, it bans detainees from being transferred to Yemen, Libya, Somalia or Syria, although congressional staff members said it didn’t appear the administration had any intention of transferring any to these volatile nations.
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The defense policy bill sets out goals and authorizes spending, though it doesn’t actually disburse any money.
