Defense Bill Passes House, Includes Ban Against Transferring Gitmo Detainees

The Hill:

The bill does include a ban on the transfer of military detainees from the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba — a blow to the Obama administration, which has yet to make good on a promise to shutter the facility.

Senate Democrats and Republicans passed the bill by unanimous consent after negotiating late into the night Tuesday. If the measure had failed, it would have been the first time in 48 years Congress did not pass a defense authorization.

The defense bill was passed by unanimous consent.

This part of the defense bill also explains the news reports today that Barack Obama's administration is preparing an executive order formalizing indefinite detention without trial for some detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The administration has long signaled that the use of prolonged detention, preferably at a facility in the United States, was one element of its plan to close Guantanamo. An interagency task force found that 48 of the 174 detainees remaining at the facility would have to be held in what the administration calls prolonged detention.

"We have a plan to close Guantanamo, and this detainee review process is one element," said an administration official who discussed the order on the condition of anonymity because it has yet to reach the president.

However, almost every part of the administration's plan to close Guantanamo is on hold, and it could be crippled this week if Congress bans the transfer of detainees to the United States for trial and sets up steep hurdles to the repatriation or resettlement in third countries of other detainees.

Officials worked intensively on the executive order over the past several weeks, but a senior White House official said it had been in the works for more than a year. If Congress blocks the administration's ability to put detainees on trial or transfer them out of Guantanamo, the official said, the executive order could still be implemented.

Instead of simply allowing military tribunals, which have been authorized by Congress already, to try detainees being held at Gitmo after a public outcry about transfering them to U.S. soil, and the spectacular failure of one high profile terrorist, Ahmed Ghailani, being tried in civilian court and being found guilty of only one of 285 charges due to civilian court rules, Obama has simply chosen to do nothing but let them sit in Gitmo.

Needless to say, this is not going over very well with Obama's base.

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Democrats DADT Dilemma

Harry Reid and his far left liberal Democratic allies have run smack up against a dilemma they may just not be able to get out of, including opposition from their own House party members as The Hill explains why the Defense Authorization Bill may have to pass without the DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) repeal being a part of it.

The need to shepherd the defense authorization bill through the Senate in the lame-duck session has left the Democratic leadership with a precarious dilemma.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may not be able to secure enough votes to pass the bill because of language repealing the ban on gays in the military. Stripping that provision may be the only way to pass the legislation, which authorizes funding and sets policy for the Pentagon.

And with a Republican majority in the House and diminished Democratic numbers in the Senate in the incoming Congress, the lame-duck session may be the last chance to repeal “don’t ask” before the 2012 presidential campaign begins in earnest.

More complications:

....This year, several veteran lawmakers will likely also be fighting to protect their legacy: Reps. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), a senior panel member, both of whom lost their reelection fights and both of whom oppose repeal.

Skelton, one of the chief architects of “Don’t ask” in 1993, brought the 2011 defense authorization bill to the House floor without repeal language. That was added to the bill during the debate.

In wanting to have a final bill without repeal, Skelton would find some strong allies among leading Republicans: McCain and Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.), the House Armed Services Committee ranking member. Of the Big Four — the chairmen and ranking members of the defense panels — only Levin favors repeal.

Informal deliberations between the House and Senate committees over the defense bill already broke down this week over the politics of repeal. But congressional sources said the committees may attempt to revive discussions next week.

Republicans have insisted that before a vote of DADT or any bill repealing it gets passed, the Pentagon’s study into the implications of repeal should be finished, presented and hearings on the findings be conducted.

Holding hearings during the busy and short lame-duck session could be tricky, but even if feasible such a move could doom repeal legislation for this Congress simply because of time and the necessary sequence of events. Repeal backers want an initial vote on "don't ask" in the first part of the lame-duck session, set for this week. However, many senators have indicated they want to hold off on voting on "don't ask" until the Pentagon study is back.

If McCain can hold off Senate floor action on the defense authorization bill which contains conditional repeal language not only until December 1 but until after hearings on the Pentagon report, that may well kill repeal for this year. If the Senate waits until after hearings to move on "don't ask," it would then need time to bring the defense bill to the floor, debate and vote on what could be a lengthy list of amendments, end debate, pass the bill, conference it with the House, and re-pass it in the Senate. Even if the Senate began work on the bill this week, that would be a tall order and if the body takes no action until, say, the second week in December, it becomes hard to see how passage could be accomplished in the face of continued resistance by McCain and others.

Proponents of DADT repeal and gay activists are keeping a close eye on this issue and are expressing their frustration of what they see as the last chance to repeal DADT for years to come.

There is some Republican support for DADT repeal but the bill should be voted for as a stand alone issue with amendments being allowed from both sides of the aisle.

The Defense Authorization Bill should not be held hostage simply for political gain for Democrats and Barack Obama.

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Harry Reid Sabotages DADT Repeal By Slipping DREAM ACT Into Defense Bill

Harry Reid, trying to garner more support in his Nevada senate reelection bid, decides to try some slight of hand by adding the DREAM ACT (immigration issue) into the defense bill where the language to repeal DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) is already inserted in, in effect sabotaging the whole bill.

CNN reports:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he will add the DREAM Act, a controversial immigration measure, to a defense policy bill the Senate will take up next week.

The decision means the defense bill, which often passes with bipartisan support, will be home to two major, thorny political issues – the other being the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Reid called the DREAM Act "really important" and said it should be passed because it provides a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants who go to college or serve in the military. DREAM is an acronym for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act.

If the bill doesn't make it through at least Reid can pretend he tried and hopefully Hispanics will vote for him in November... he is so obvious in his desperation as he starts trailing Sharron Angle again in the polls.

Willing to jeopardize the whole defense bill and even DADT repeal for his own political gain.

Is it any wonder he is so unpopular in Nevada as well as the rest of the country?

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