Gitmo remains problematic for Obama
Posted: Thursday, June 04, 2009 12:13 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House, Congress, Security
From NBC's Ken Strickland
After being soundly rejected in its request for money to close the Gitmo prison, the Obama administration is back on Capitol Hill to give it another try. And so far, it's not going very well, according to sources.
Video: MSNBC’s Richard Wolffe discusses the Senate's vote against Obama's request for money he would need to close the U.S. Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay.
Later yesterday afternoon, three senior administration officials from the National Security Council and the Justice Department made their case to a hastily called closed meeting of Senate Democrats. More administration officials are expected up here again today.
The exact details of how much money or what authority the administration seeks is unclear. But here's what I've been able to piece together: The emergency war-funding bill (a.k.a., "the supplemental") that's moving its way through Congress strictly prohibits ANY money from being used to bring GITMO detainees into the United States. That not only prohibits money given in the supplemental, but prohibits any other money already given to the administration from being transferred for the purpose of moving detainees.
The problem for the administration is that it appears it would like to move -- but not release -- some detainees to the U.S. for trial, either in federal courts or military commissions. But if Congress passes the war-funding bill, they would be prohibited from even doing that.
