Last week President Obama announced a plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Introduced this month, the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Protection Act, S. 2559 and H.R. 654, would prevent the facility from being transferred to Cuban control without Congressional approval.

Given most Republicans’ opposition to Obama’s plan, this would very likely prevent Obama from going through with his plans.

The facility

The detention facility, which has been in operation since 2002, is located on a U.S. naval base and is used to detain people who are believed to be terrorists or have terrorist connections. It has become a lightning rod in the debate over how America should conduct the post-9/11 war on terror. Many accuse the facility of operating with minimal transparency and allowing for U.S.-led human rights abuses such as waterboarding. Others, mostly on the right, say it serves a necessary role in quarantining, punishing, and obtaining information from the most valuable informants in the war on terror.

Closing the facility

Closing Guantanamo has been one of Obama’s top priorities as president, and on only his second full day in office he signed an order to close the facility within a year. But those plans were significantly delayed, due to a combination of congressional opposition (from a then-Democratic Congress) and unexpected legal difficulties in transferring prisoners to other locations. So more than seven years later, the facility remains open.

It currently holds 91 detainees, almost all from Middle Eastern countries such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Yemen. However, this number is down significantly from its peak of 684 detainees in June 2003. Obama’s new plan would transfer 35 of the current detainees to other countries, and bring the remaining 56 to maximum security prisons in the United States.

Obama said this week in announcing the closure plan, “For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security — it undermines it… It’s counterproductive to our fight against terrorists, because they use it as propaganda in their efforts to recruit. It drains military resources, with nearly $450 million spent last year alone to keep it running, and more than $200 million in additional costs needed to keep it open going forward for less than 100 detainees. Guantanamo harms our partnerships with allies and other countries whose cooperation we need against terrorism.”

Preventing its closure

The Senate version of the bill was introduced this week by Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and would prevent the president from “modifying, terminating, abandoning, or transferring the lease” with Cuba that allows the facility’s continued existence without Congress expressly authorizing. It has nine co-sponsors, all Republicans — including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and a man of Cuban-American descent.

“If we capture terrorists alive, they will get a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, and we will find out everything they know. Enemy combatants suitable for trial will be tried in military tribunals. And no Guantanamo detainees will be brought to the United States for trial in our courts,” Rubio said. “Our nation cannot afford to let Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders take us back to the failed pre-9/11 law enforcement approach to counterterrorism.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), another leading presidential contender of Cuban descent, took a similar position, though he has yet to sign on as a cosponsor. “Let me say this, Mr. President: don’t shut down Gitmo, expand it and let’s have some new terrorists there,” he said. “How on earth does any president look in the eyes of a mother or father whose son or daughter lost their lives capturing these terrorists and justify, we’re going to release them again when we know a very high percentage of them are going to return to waging jihad to try to murder innocent Americans?”

The bill has been referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee. The House counterpart bill was introduced by Rep. David Jolly (R-FL13) and has attracted 63 cosponsors, also all Republican. It has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.