Congress Still Saying No on Gitmo

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12:23 PM, Oct 5, 2009 • By MICHAEL GOLDFARB

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The Hill reports that Congress is once again jamming Gitmo provisions into spending bills -- at least five different bills between the House and Senate. This on the heels of the administration finally conceding that they are nowhere near meeting the January 22 "deadline" for closing the detention facility. When that story broke, the Post reported:

In May, one of the senior officials said, Obama tapped Pete Rouse -- a top adviser and former congressional aide who is not an expert on national security but is often called in to fix significant problems -- to oversee the process. Senior adviser David Axelrod and deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer were brought in to craft a more effective message around detainee policy, the official said.

"It was never going to be easy, but we have worked through some of the early challenges and are on a strong course," Pfeiffer said.

The early challenges included public opposition, Congressional opposition, and the complete lack of a White House strategy for what do with the detainees. Since then public opinion has shifted even further from the White House, the White House still has no plan, and opposition in Congress...well, as the Hill reports:

Lawmakers are using their authority to direct federal spending to prevent the Obama administration from closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

In their race to complete a dozen appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began this week, members of both chambers are including policy language aimed at halting the administration's decision to transfer prisoners from the Cuban facility to prisons in their districts.

To paraphrase one great American statesman, Congress isn't just saying no, they're saying hell no.