If Republicans are serious about cutting unnecessary spending, they can start by closing the Guantanamo Bay prison — which now detains just 15 people.
https://bsky.app/profile/mynewsfeed.link/post/3lf65mfemin22
Biden shrinks Guantanamo’s prison population to just 15 people: If Republicans are serious about cutting unnecessary spending, they can start by closing the Guantanamo Bay prison — which now detains just 15 people
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/biden-shrinks-guantanamos-prison-population-just-15-people-rcna186580
It’s no secret that the Obama administration tried to close the Guantanamo Bay prison — a goal that used to enjoy bipartisan support — and it likely would’ve succeeded, were it not for congressional restrictions. It was against this backdrop that the Biden administration announced plans in February 2021 to pick up where the last Democratic team left off.
As the incumbent president prepares to exit the White House, the administration has fallen short of its goal of shutting down the detention facility once and for all, but it’s had great success shrinking the prison’s population to lows unseen in decades. NBC News reported:
The Pentagon said Monday it had transferred 11 Yemeni men to Oman this week after holding them for more than two decades without charge at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The transfer was the latest and biggest push by the Biden administration in its final weeks to clear Guantanamo of the last remaining detainees there who were never charged with a crime.
The prison population at Guantanamo now stands at just 15 people — the fewest since 2002......
Even if congressional Republicans are inclined to ignore every other consideration, the hope has long been that GOP lawmakers would at least care about wasteful spending: It costs American taxpayers roughly $13 million per prisoner, per year.
As of today, the facility holds just 15 inmates, down from 40 at the end of Donald Trump’s first term. The cost of keeping the prison open for such a small group of inmates is tough to justify.
Indeed, it’s not uncommon for Republicans to talk with great enthusiasm about the need to cut unnecessary and wasteful government spending. It’s ostensibly the point of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” led in part by GOP mega-donor Elon Musk.
Of course, if the party is serious about such a goal, perhaps it can prove it by agreeing to close this exceedingly expensive detention facility?
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