Legal Commentary

House Dems Say "No" To Obama Request for Gitmo Closing Funds

By Jeralyn

Are House Democrats concerned that President Obama is all talk and no action when it comes to closing Guantanamo? Today they rejected his request to include $80 million in funds in a war spending bill, saying they want to see a a concrete plan first.

The House directive was part of a $96.7 billion emergency financing measure for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the House approved by a vote of 368 to 60, with 168 Republicans joining the Democratic majority in support.

But in a clear rebuke to Mr. Obama, Democratic leaders refused to include the $80 million that the White House had sought for closing the Guantánamo center. On his third day in office, Mr. Obama signed an executive order requiring that the camp be shut by Jan. 22, 2010.

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In a sign of the growing discomfort among Democrats over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other national security issues, 51 Democrats voted against the war-spending measure, refusing to support it even without the money for closing the Guantánamo prison.

Instead of money:

In place of the requested money, Democrats added their demand for a plan to close the camp. “The president shall submit to Congress, in writing, a comprehensive plan regarding the proposed disposition of each individual who is detained as of April 30, 2009, at Naval Station,” the bill states. It also requires “the findings of an analysis regarding any risk to the national security of the United States that is posed by the transfer of the individual.”

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 15, 2009 (boomark / email).