Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Which 25 Democrats Voted to Prevent Progress on Closing Guantanamo?

The House of Representatives spent yesterday voting on a military construction and veteran's affairs bill which would ignore the cuts imposed on the military by sequestration.  Obama has already expressed his intent to veto any such spending bill that restores funding only to the military and does not find a more comprehensive way to replace sequestration cuts. (Of course, he has no interest in repealing sequestration, which would be the sensible option.  But I digress.)

House Democrats, acting as they did during the FAA bill vote, happily went along and decided to vote for it en masse despite the President's veto threat. Steny Hoyer praised the spending bill the other day. The bill ultimately passed easily 421 to 4.  The 4 Democrats who voted against it on principle were Karen Bass, John Conyers, George Miller, and Rick Nolan.  All due respect to them.
That might be shameful and demonstrative of Democratic political fecklessness, but there is a more important vote to highlight here: that on Jim Moran's amendment.

Jim Moran (D, VA-8) put forth an amendment that would repeal the current ban on funding the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to domestic detention facilities (existing or new).   The amendment's purpose reads as follows: "An amendment to strike Section 413 which prohibits the use of funds to construct or expand any facility in the United States to house any individual detained at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the purposes of detention or imprisonment."

The text of Section 413, which it would strike from the bill, is the following:
Sec. 413. (a) In General- None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense in this Act may be used to construct, renovate, or expand any facility in the United States, its territories, or possessions to house any individual detained at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the purposes of detention or imprisonment in the custody or under the control of the Department of Defense.
(b) The prohibition in subsection (a) shall not apply to any modification of facilities at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(c) An individual described in this subsection is any individual who, as of June 24, 2009, is located at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and who--
(1) is not a citizen of the United States or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States; and
(2) is--
(A) in the custody or under the effective control of the Department of Defense; or
(B) otherwise under detention at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Granted, this would not end indefinite detention (the central problem of Gitmo), but the vote matters as a reflection of Congressional will to move forward in closing the moral stain on our democracy and the rule of law that is Guantanamo Bay.  Also, in order to try any of these prisoners in a court of law, you would have to transfer them as well.
The amendment failed 170 - 254.  Only 1 Republican voted for it--economic and civil libertarian Justin Amash. 229 Republicans voted against it.  169 Democrats voted for it, and 25 against.
Who are those 25 Democrats who voted against it?

Ron Barber (AZ-02)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Sanford Bishop (GA-02)
Julia Brownley (CA-26)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28)
Pete Gallego (TX-23)
Joe Garcia (FL-26)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Dan Lipinski (IL-03)
Sean Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-04)
Mike McIntyre (NC-07)
Jerry McNerney (CA-9)
Patrick Murphy (FL-18)
Bill Owens (NY-21)
Gary Peters (MI-14)
Nick Rahall (WV-3)
Raul Ruiz (CA-36)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-02)
Loretta Sanchez (CA-46)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Krysten Sinema (AZ-09)
Albio Sires (NJ-08)
Filemon Vela (TX-34)

Shame on them.

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