A U.S. soldier walks near a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. White House declines to say if Gitmo executive action off table

The White House declined to say whether President Barack Obama would pursue executive action to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday, blaming members of Congress for their unwillingness to consider the proposal.

“Congress specifically requested this plan on this time frame and we have provided it to them," press secretary Josh Earnest told ABC News White House correspondent Jon Karl in an extended back and forth over whether Obama would act unilaterally, despite pledging not to do so in submitting the proposal. "So again, they’re going to have to decide whether or not they would actually want to take a look at this."


In one of his inquiries, Karl referred to the bipartisan nature of the opposition to bringing prisoners to American soil, noting past congressional votes to that effect. Trying to pin Earnest down on a yes/no answer, Karl pressed him on what would happen if Congress continued to reject the president's efforts.

“The president himself has considered this question, and what he has said publicly is that our focus is going to be on working with Congress, and working with Congress requires presenting them a specific plan on the time frame that they’ve asked for," Earnest said. "That’s exactly what we’ve done, and we’re now asking for Congress to give it fair consideration. And I’m not going to speculate at this point if Congress refuses to do it.”