Congressional Lawmakers Agree to Disagree with Obama on Closing Gitmo
The Washington Post reports that congressional Republicans and Democrats both agree to disagree with Obama on closing Guantanamo Bay if detainees end up on U.S. soil.
The Democratic-led House Appropriations Committee yesterday passed a bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while stripping the more than $50 million that administration officials had requested for closing the prison and starting the relocation of its 240 prisoners.
Lawmakers criticized the administration for not yet offering a detailed plan on prisoner relocation.
Republicans, who have said the issue is an example of Obama’s weakness on national security, accused the president of endangering Americans. They proposed legislation dubbed the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act,” which would bar moving Guantanamo prisoners to a U.S. facility unless the receiving state’s governor and legislature approved.
“Our constituents don’t want these terrorists in their neighborhoods,” said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio.).
But several Democrats have joined Republicans in saying they do not want Guantanamo prisoners in their states or districts. When officials in Hardin, Mont., a city that has a prison with no inmates, said they would accept detainees from Guantanamo Bay, the state’s Democratic senators shot down the idea.
“You cannot close Guantanamo unless you have a plan,” said Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.).
“I wouldn’t want them, and I wouldn’t take them,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). “I don’t see a solution.”
When an administration has scratched the word terrorist from it vocabulary, it doesn’t take much to appreciate Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement that United States will not release anyone considered a terrorists into the country.