Senate

McConnell: Obama can’t bring Gitmo detainees into nation’s ‘backyards’

by Jordain Carney - 11/10/15 10:34 AM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is wading into the looming battle over closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center, warning that President Obama can’t move detainees into the United States without approval from Congress.

“This morning, the Senate will pass two bills,” he said. “Each of these bills contains a clear bipartisan prohibition on the president moving Guantanamo terrorists into the backyards of the American people. Both of these bills include restrictions on moving terrorists into our country.”

{mosads}Senators are expected to take a final vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Lawmakers are also hoping to finish their work on the fiscal year 2016 spending bill for veterans’ benefits and military construction, though a vote hasn’t been officially scheduled.

McConnell’s remarks comes as the Obama administration is expected to hand over a plan as early this week for closing the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison camp. That plan is expected to include advocating for dozens of the remaining 112 detainees to be moved into the United States.

But with Republicans suggesting that any plan is effectively dead on arrival in the Senate, the White House hasn’t ruled out using executive action to close the facility. The president for years has pledged to close the prison but has faced restrictions from Congress.

The NDAA would extend a one-year ban on moving detainees into the United States, as well as block detainees from being sent to Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Libya.

“The president may not like this bipartisan action, it may conflict with the campaign slogan from eight or nine years ago, but here’s how one senator put it: Congress’s job is to pass legislation,” McConnell added. “The president can veto it or he can sign it. That was then-Senator Obama.”

Despite the restrictions, McConnell said he expected Obama would sign the revised NDAA after he vetoed the original version last month over concerns about billions in extra war funding.

Tags Mitch McConnell