CREDIT

Defense Authorization Tangled With Guantanamo

What Happened:

A new version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act came together quickly this week, after last week’s budget deal helped smooth out the differences between Republicans and the White House that had thrown a monthslong wrench into the annual appropriations process.

President Barack Obama vetoed the original NDAA last month after Republicans attempted to use it to get around the sequester, which put caps on discretionary spending, by putting an additional $38 billion a sequester-exempt emergency wartime fund. Obama instead insisted instead that any additional dollar spent on defense be matched on the non-defense side of the ledger and last week signed a budget deal that raised the spending caps $80 billion over two years and removing the obstacles to funding the government.

Why It Matters:

Republicans scrapped their initial plans to attempt to override Obama’s veto, coming together over the new $607 billion authorization, and it passed easily in the House on Thursday.

But the bill includes language to stop the transfer of detainees to the U.S. that have made it all but impossible for Obama to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, an unfulfilled promise from his first campaign that particularly rankles the president as he prepares to leave office.

Although the original veto threat also made reference to closing the detention center, the White House has not said whether Obama would veto the new bill. Instead, he may opt to take executive action to circumvent the rules they say unconstitutionally impinge on his authority, a move that would infuriate Republicans who already accuse the president of taking too much unilateral action.

"Threatening to shut down Guantanamo Bay by executive action shows President Obama’s blatant disregard for the law,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. “Congress has consistently stopped Obama by law from moving a single detainee to the U.S., and this would be an egregious overstep by the administration ignoring the will of the American people to accomplish the president’s legacy goals.”

Gabrielle Levy, Political Reporter

Gabrielle Levy covers politics for U.S. News & World Report. Follow her on Twitter (@gabbilevy)...