The US Senate will not pay for the closure of Guantanamo

Washington, May 20 (Reuters) - US Senate on Wednesday refused to finance the closure of the prison at the American military base in Guantanamo. The White House, who asked to allocate $ 80 million for these purposes, said in response that he did not intend to change his plans and the prison would be closed at the beginning of next year. Senators voted almost unanimously in order not to include this amount in the bill on the allocation of $ 91.3 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate also forbade the president to use any other funds in order to transport 240 prisoners of the prison in the United States. The Senate rejected the requirement of the presidential administration on the allocation of funds after active criticism of the Republicans, who stated that the White House did not have a clear idea of ​​the further fate of the prisoners. In addition, the Republicans actively objected to suspects in terrorism were placed in American prisons. The Senate’s decision can greatly complicate the implementation of one of the main election promises of Barack Obama - to close the prison, which in the eyes of the world community became the personification of cruelty and arbitrariness. The White House speaker Robert Gibbs said that the lawmakers promised to continue working on this issue, after the administration submits a clear plan for the closure of the prison and transferring prisoners to other institutions of the penicitan system. (Jeremy Pelofski. Paul Mikhaleva translated. Editor Dmitry Antonov)