US Senate blocks funding to close Guantanamo prison (Roundup)

May 20, 2009, 17:59 GMT

Washington - The US Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block President Barack Obama's funding request to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and prohibited the transfer of detainees to American soil.

The 90-6 vote was a setback to Obama's plans to shutter the facility by January and relocate the 240 detainees currently head at the camp the US Navy base on Cuba. The Democrats joined Republicans in opposing Obama amid increasing opposition to the possibility some detainees could be taken to the United States.

Democrats said they will not restore the funding until Obama provides a more detailed plan for closing Guantanamo, which the president intends to outline in a national security speech on Thursday in Washington, the White House said.

The White House had conceded a day earlier that there should be a plan before Congress provides the 80 million dollars requested in a 91-billion-dollar funding bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

'We agree with Congress that before resources, that they should receive a more detailed plan,' Gibbs said.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said the funding could be restored, noting that the war bill provides funding that only lasts through September 30. The House of Representatives passed the war funding bill last week, but also stripped out the funding for Guantanamo.

'Democrats under no circumstances will move forward without a comprehensive, responsible plan from the president,' Reid said. 'We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States.'

Obama's decision to close Guantanamo days after taking office was widely praised. The facility was the source in international outrage against the United States and symbolized the alleged abuses of the Bush administration in the war on terrorism.

But he has since encountered resistance. Polls show Americans do not want the detainees brought to the United States. At the same time, refusing to free some of the 30 detainees whom Obama has identified as eligible for release would undermine his effort to persuade other countries to accept some detainees.

So far, only two inmates have been released, one to Britain and last week another to France. Encouraging US allies to help is seen as a key element to close the prison.

There are some Republicans flatly opposed to closing Guantanamo. Senator James Inhofe said it's a state of the art prison that has been heavily invested in, and that the alleged abuses are a thing of the past.

'There's just no place where they can be treated as well as Gitmo,' he said on CNN, using an abbreviation for the base. 'It's a great resource.'