Defense measure OK’d by House

Lawmakers slam Gitmo detainees’ relocation to U.S.

WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly backed a $607 billion defense bill that would bar President Barack Obama from moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. prisons, setting up a showdown with Congress over his 2008 campaign pledge to close the Cuban facility.

The long-running dispute heated up Thursday on Capitol Hill just hours after the House passed the bill, 370-58. Three Republican senators from Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina — states where the administration has explored housing Guantanamo terror suspects — held a news conference to make it clear they will fight to prevent moving them to U.S. soil.

Closing the prison was a priority of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and he promised during his first days in office that he would eventually shutter the facility, which he argues is costly and gives extremists a recruiting tool.

The administration is finalizing a plan on closing the prison, which houses 112 detainees, but hasn’t said when it will share it with Congress.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have blocked Obama’s effort for years.

Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas on Wednesday placed a hold on Obama’s nominee to be the next Army secretary to prevent the president from trying to bypass Congress by using his executive authorities to close the prison.

“This administration has continually gone around the Congress and tried to figure out which button to push to irritate Congress the most,” said Roberts. “As I have said for years and years, we are not going to have terrorists from Gitmo come to Fort Leavenworth, the intellectual center of the Army, or any other location in the United States.”

Roberts accused Obama of executive “overreach” and said he would work to continue to withhold congressional funds to move detainees to the United States, which currently is against the law.

At a separate news conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she is upset that the Republicans have prevented Obama from closing Guantanamo, “which he set out to do, and which he had a plan to do — and he does have a plan to do now.”

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest hinted that the president might use his executive authority to close the prison. Obama wants to work with Congress to close Guantanamo, but “if Congress continues to refuse,” the president will explore all other options, Earnest said.