House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce introduced legislation Thursday that would prevent the federal government from returning the Guantanamo Bay naval station to Cuba without permission from Congress.
“The U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay is a critical national security and foreign policy asset for the United States,” the California Republican said in a statement. “Congress specifically provided the president the authority to acquire Guantanamo Bay from Cuba, and Congress should have a role in any decision to relinquish it.”
The bill highlights the GOP’s fear that President Obama might be preparing steps to return the base to Cuba, and that he might promote the idea when he visits Cuba later this month.
“In just a few weeks, President Obama will meet with the communist government in Cuba,” Royce said. “The White House says our Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay is ‘sure’ to be a part of discussions. While giving the base to the Castro regime may not be a part of ‘this trip,’ as the White House insists, its long record of one-sided concessions and lack of transparency over Cuba policy makes me very concerned about the status of this key naval station.”
President Obama is seeking to shut down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay before he leaves office, and has made several moves to normalize trade and travel relations between the two countries.
But Royce believes giving back the naval station will put a hole in the U.S.’s national security, especially related to Russia.
“That is why I’m introducing this important legislation to ensure that Americans and their representatives in Congress have a say in the future of the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay,” he said. “Too much is at stake for our president to unilaterally cede this base to a Castro regime that denies its people basic rights and freedoms, while allying with governments hostile to U.S. interests.”
