South Carolina Republicans in the U.S. House voted to pass a bill banning all transfers of detainees out of the Guantanamo Bay prison on Thursday, in an effort to further hamper President Barack Obama’s plans to shutter the facility before he leaves office.
The House passed the bill on a 244 to 174 vote, but it’s unlikely to be approved by the Senate. Earlier this week, the White House threatened to veto the legislation.
61 Number of detainees currently at Guantanamo, down from 241 when Obama took office
The bill was co-sponsored by South Carolina Reps. Joe Wilson, Jeff Duncan and Mark Sanford. The Guantanamo debate became especially significant to Palmetto State lawmakers after the Pentagon scouted the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Hanahan, S.C. as a potential site to transfer the detainees last year. The facility lies five miles from North Charleston, and Gov. Nikki Haley testified before a House Homeland Security subcommittee in April about the impact it could have on the state.
While the bill is unlikely to become a law, it was meant to send a message to the Obama administration.
“On legislative matters, the president has made it clear that he doesn’t know when no means no,” Sanford said after the vote. “It strikes me as reasonable to try to lay before the president once again that what he might be tempted to do in a lame duck is both unlawful and will cost lives.”
On legislative matters, the president has made it clear that he doesn’t know when no means no.
Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.
He said that while this bill is not new – there have been five similar laws – it was important for Congress to make its stance clear as the Obama administration enters a lame duck session. Once his actions “no longer have electoral consequence,” many worry about Obama using executive action to close the prison.
The bill, from Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., prohibits all transfers until Jan. 1 next year, or until this year’s annual defense policy bill is enacted, which for years has banned the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the United States.
“While the President is risking our national security to fulfill campaign promises, Congress will continue to put our national security first,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. wrote in a Facebook post after the vote.
Closing the facility was one of Obama’s main campaign promises in 2008, but he has yet to acknowledged that he won’t be able to see it through with only a few months left in his second term.
“I am not ready to concede that it may still remain open because we’re still working diligently to continue to shrink the population,” he said last week, speaking at a summit in Laos.