A short time ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that a new plan will likely keep Guantanamo detainees from being brought to the United States “during this fiscal year.” Recently the Senate declined to give the Obama administration the $50 million it had requested to pay for moving the Gitmo detainees. Now, Reid says Sen. Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, has decided to withhold the money for a longer period of time. From Reid’s remarks:
The issue is what we do with the prisoners that are there…Senator Inouye told me that they were going to fence the money so it wouldn’t be available until the president came up with a plan and that there would be no prisoners brought to the United States during this fiscal year…That looks like an issue that could cause a little bit of debate.
The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. It is unclear whether there was ever any intention to bring Gitmo detainees to the U.S. before September 30. But if there was, it’s probably been changed.
