The Republican majority of the U.S. House of Representatives reinforced its pressure on the government today by presenting a bill that blocks shutting down the naval base in Guantanamo.
The new legislation proposes keeping the prison open and prevents the Department of Defense from expending money to build or modify prisons in the United States in order to relocate the 166 inmates held at the prison in Guantanamo, in Cuban territory occupied by the U.S.
It also aims to prevent the Pentagon from allocating funds to transfer inmates to their countries of origin.
The bill must be voted on during sessions Wednesday and then it will be reviewed by both houses of the Congress over the summer. Republican lawmakers took that step after President Barack Obama recently insisted that he intended to close the prison.
Obama took that unfulfilled promise up again after the radicalization of a hunger strike that began on February 6, by at least 130 inmates, who were protesting the terrible disciplinary measures, mistreatment and indefinite confinement.
The prison has an annual expenditure equivalent to $903,614 USD per inmate, a budget higher than that allocated to U.S. maximum security prisons, which allocate nearly $70,000 USD per inmate.