Gitmo supporters defy administration in Congress

Washington Times:

He has already missed his own self-imposed deadline, and President Obama's plans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, suffered more setbacks last week when lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol took steps to block him.

On Friday the full House voted 282-131 to prevent Mr. Obama from transferring any of the detainees being held at Guantanamo to the United States, while the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a bill Thursday stopping Mr. Obama from buying a new prison to house the detainees.

"We can't stop every terrorist from coming to the United States but we can stop the ones that are coming from Guantanamo," said Rep. Randy J. Forbes, the Virginia Republican who offered the amendment in the House that prohibits any detainee from being moved to the U.S.

...

A White House official said Friday they are still pursuing the process.

"Congress has requested further information from the administration before granting funds to transfer detainees to Thomson, and we will work to provide that information," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "We have a DOJ appropriations request to acquire Thomson for the purpose of housing federal prisoners there, and that request has not yet been voted on."

...

The Senate version still must be voted on by the full Senate, and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said he expects the ban on buying a prison to be re-fought on the Senate floor.

...

Republicans' amendment also requires an inspector general to determine whether defense lawyers for suspected terrorists have passed names of key military and intelligence figures to those accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

I think the administration has lost the fight to move the terrorist from Gitmo to the US, for all practical purposes. They may still want to make the move, but is if they think just providing more info is going to change the results of this vote they are delusional. It will get even harder for them after this fall's election. Clearly the Democrats voting with the Republicans know which way the voters feel about this issue.

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