President Barack Obama’s hopes of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects is slipping further away.The defense authorization bill approved 59-0 by the House Armed Services Committee late Wednesday night contains language barring funding to build or convert any facility in the U.S. to accept former Guantanamo detainees. 

Such a provision could scuttle Obama’s plan to close Guantanamo by purchasing a state prison in Thomson, Ill., to house some of those now at Gitmo. The administration had sought $350 million in Department of Defense funding for Guantanamo-related closure and transfer expenses and an additional $237 million in Department of Justice funding for the Thomson site, including paying the state for the jail. 

Recommended Stories

Voters who helped Trump win in Michigan are having second thoughts

Piker sues Scott Jennings for $72.5 million in defamation case

To end the war, end the Palestinians’ hope of victory