Obama on Gitmo: ‘I will not relent’

President Obama used his penultimate State of the Union address to reiterate his goal of shuttering the controversial U.S. detention facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

“As Americans, we have a profound commitment to justice. So it makes no sense to spend $3 million per prisoner to keep open a prison that the world condemns and terrorists use to recruit,” the president told lawmakers Tuesday night.

“Since I’ve been president, we’ve worked responsibly to cut the population of Gitmo in half,” he added. “Now it’s time to finish the job.”

The president has stepped up his efforts to shutter the controversial facility in an attempt to fulfill a campaign pledge he made in 2008. Transfers from the facility have reduced the population at Guantánamo to 122 prisoners.

GOP lawmakers have begun taking steps of their own to thwart the president.

Last week, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others rolled out legislation that would place new prohibitions on the president’s ability to release detainees.

Obama said he was undeterred.

“I will not relent in my determination to shut it down,” he said. “It’s not who we are.”