Congress won’t fund new prison

Guantanamo commanders say they need a $69M building

In a setback to President Donald Trump’s promise to make Guantanamo a permanent detention center, Congress has refused to pay for a new $69 million prison for the alleged 9/11 plotters and other former CIA captives.

Commanders at the prison twice in recent weeks campaigned for the new building in sessions with visiting U.S. journalists. They argued Guantanamo’s Camp 7 prison — which reporters have never been allowed to see — is structurally sound, but will become inadequate for the hospice needs of long-term war prisoners.

The White House notified the Senate this week of its displeasure that the Senate’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act omitted the funds for the new prison at Guantanamo, warning that the current facility has structural and system problems “that, if unaddressed, could in the future pose life and safety risks to our guard forces and the detainees being held there.”

It added: “The President has ordered continued detention operations at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay.”

The protest — illustrating an inherent conflict between the GOP president and a GOP-led Congress — was among 46 objections issued by the Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday to the massive defense policy bill adopted by the Senate. The House had already excluded a new high-value prison for Guantanamo from its version of the bill.

On Capitol Hill, two staffers contacted by McClatchy emphasized the refusal to fund the new prison does not reflect a dispute with Trump over the future of Guantanamo.