The U.S. Senate on Tuesday blocked the funds requested by the Obama administration for closing down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba, saying that a clear plan for the closure of the camp must be presented to the Congress before the Senators approve the requested funds.
The Senators also removed the $80m requested by Obama to shut down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center from a war-funding measure for financing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and some other security programs. The Senate is expected to vote on the war-funding bill later in the week.
"We'll wipe out all the money, but I'll put in a provision saying none of the funds in this bill or any other bill may be used to pay for the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to the United States," Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee told reporters.
The Senate move comes just a week after the House of Representatives took a similar decision about the detention camp and approved a $96.7 billion war spending after stripping the funds requested for the closure of the detention camp.
The House also barred Obama from transferring any of the Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S. without getting prior permission from the Congress. The House insisted that Obama must first present a detailed plan for the detainees release to the Congress, there by giving the lawmakers a chance to review the plans.
Obama had earlier described the military commissions as "an enormous failure" in his election campaign last year, and had announced plans to close down close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba shortly after he took office in January.
Soon after announcing his decision to close down the detention center, Obama had requested the military judges at Guantanamo Bay to delay the hearings to give his administration time to review the legal cases against all the terror suspects held there.
Though the U.S. authorities have released more than 525 detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison since 2002, some 244 detainees still remain in the detention camp, which was opened in late 2001 at a US naval base in Cuba soon after the 9/11 terror attacks.
However, Obama announced last week that the military trials of some detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention center would be restarted with some changes that would give improved legal rights to the detainees facing the military commissions.
The U.S. President also said that properly structured and administered military commissions were the best means of trying enemies who violate the laws of war, adding that he had opposed the previous tribunals under the Bush administration as they had failed to establish a legitimate legal framework to provide swift and certain justice.
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