Today in Washington D. C. - May 19, 2009

The Senate reconvened and resumed consideration of H.R. 627, a bill to place restrictions on credit card companies. They will first vote on a cloture on the Dodd-Shelby substitute amendment to the bill. A vote on final passage of the bill is expected before noon.

Following the credit card bill, the Senate will debate the nomination of Gary Gensler for Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. There is little debate expected as the vote on his nomination is expected this afternoon. Then they will begin consideration of the fiscal 2009 supplemental $91.3 billion war time spending bill for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Didn't Barack Obama during his campaign promise left winged supporters there would be no more money for "war" and to bring the troops home?

The more Americans and members of Congress consider the prospect of Guantanamo detainees coming to the United States, the less they like the idea. A new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll finds that Americans don’t think detainees should be transferred to prisons in the U.S. by a margin of 55%-37%. Opposition to transferring detainees to the U.S. has increased Fox’s January’s poll with the biggest shift coming from Independents who were evenly split (46-46) while a majority (53-39) of Independents now oppose moving detainees to the United States. 46%of Democrats, a plurality, now oppose this as well.

At the same time, opposition in Congress is also increasing - Senate Democrats have expressed skepticism about bringing Guantanamo detainees into the country. And Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA), Max Baucus (D-MT), Jon Tester (D-VA), and Ben Nelson (D-NE) have said they don’t want detainees coming to their states. The AP reports today that President Obama “is running into trouble in his own backyard. Rep. Frank Wolf, a Republican lawmaker who represents some of the Virginia suburbs outside Washington, is fighting Obama's effort to resettle 17 Uighurs — Turkic Muslims from western China — in or near his district.” And last week, the House stripped funding to close Guantanamo from the supplemental war spending bill.

Politico reports that Senate Republicans settled Monday decided that in regard to the closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay: "No detainees can come to American soil. With the blessing of his party leaders, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is expected to offer the language as an amendment to a wartime spending bill" mentioned previously. Politico also noted the division among Democrats on the issue. “Democrats, under pressure from voters at home, are already wavering, as seen in the House and in statements by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) over the weekend. And Obama, who is slated to address the Guantanamo issue in a speech Thursday, has sent mixed signals himself as he sorts through the complexities of how to bring to trial the remaining prisoners. ‘Obama hasn’t done us any favors on this,’ said one Democratic leadership aide. ‘He’s a little of this, a little of that. The Republicans have one compelling message.’”

Fox News noted that Sen. McConnell “has given 14 Senate floor speeches already this year on the topic.” Sen. McConnell (R-KY) said, “Some have argued that the existence of the Guantanamo prison serves as a recruiting tool for terrorists. But it’s hard to imagine that moving this facility somewhere else and giving it a different name will somehow satisfy our critics in European capitals. Even less likely is the notion that by moving detainees from the coast of Cuba to Colorado, terrorists overseas will turn their swords into ploughshares. The global terror network that we’re fighting targeted and killed Americans long before 9/11 and long before we opened the gates at Guantanamo. Shuttering this facility now could only serve one end: and that’s to make Americans less safe than Guantanamo has.”

Americans realize this and members of Congress are beginning to realize it as well. The question is when the administration will get the message.

---

Tags: credit cards, detainees, Gitmo, military funding, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!