Elect Adam Smith

Ranking Member Adam Smith Offers To Plan To Close GTMOMay 21, 2014

DETAINEE PROVISIONS IN NDAA PROVOKE VETO THREAT FROM WHITE HOUSE

Washington D.C. – As the House considers the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (FY2015 NDAA), House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith will offer an amendment designed to provide an effective strategy to close the detention facility located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO).  The plan lays out six key steps to close the facility, including the removal of the unnecessary transfer and construction restrictions, which have provoked a veto threat from the White House.

 “As the number of detainees held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, continues to shrink, the cost to taxpayers will only continue to grow,” said Ranking Member Smith. “This growing cost, coupled with the ongoing damage to our national security and moral standing in the world, underscores the necessity to close this international eyesore.”

“The Republican unwillingness to budge on provisions related to GTMO has now placed the bill at risk. It is becoming more likely that the White House will veto the National Defense Authorization Act in direct response to the GTMO provisions. We should prevent that from happening by adopting my amendment,” continued Smith.  

Operating the facility has cost more than $5 billion since 2002.  Additionally, with the cost expected to increase in the coming years, we are currently spending approximately $2.7 million per detainee each year at Guantanamo Bay, compared to $78,000 per inmate to hold a convicted terrorist in the most secure federal prison in the United States, the Supermax facility in Colorado. 

The plan offered by Smith would not close the facility tomorrow. Rather, it clears the way for a gradual and responsible path forward.

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