Defense bill OK'd by House still would hamper closing Gitmo

WASHINGTON -- The House overwhelmingly backed a $607 billion defense bill that would bar President Barack Obama from moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. prisons, setting up a showdown with Congress over his 2008 campaign pledge to close the Cuban facility.

The long-running dispute heated up Thursday on Capitol Hill just hours after the House passed the bill, 370-58. Three Republican senators from Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina -- states where the administration has explored housing Guantanamo terror suspects -- held a news conference to make it clear they will fight to prevent moving them to U.S. soil.

Closing the prison was a priority of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, and he promised during his first days in office he eventually would shutter the facility, which he argues is costly and gives extremists a recruiting tool.

The administration is finalizing a plan on closing the prison, which houses 112 detainees, but hasn't said when it will share it with Congress.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have blocked Obama's effort for years.

Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas on Wednesday placed a hold on Obama's nominee to be the next Army secretary to prevent the president from trying to bypass Congress by using his executive authority to close the prison.

"This administration has continually gone around the Congress and tried to figure out which button to push to irritate Congress the most," said Roberts, whose state includes Fort Leavenworth. "Well he sure as hell has pushed my button. As I have said for years and years, we are not going to have terrorists from Gitmo come to Fort Leavenworth, the intellectual center of the Army, or any other location in the United States."

Obama vetoed the original defense policy bill over a larger spending issue. But that dispute was resolved, and Obama on Monday signed a bipartisan budget bill that avoids a catastrophic U.S. default and puts off the next round of fighting over federal spending and debt until after next year's presidential and congressional elections.

The defense bill was trimmed by $5 billion to align it with the budget agreement.