Obama Signs Defense Bill Despite Guantanamo Provisions

WASHINGTON (AP) —

President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a $607 billion defense policy bill despite his opposition to restrictions in the legislation that ban him from moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States and making good on a long unfulfilled campaign promise.

Obama has opposed provisions preventing detainee transfers since Congress first attached the measures to spending bills in an attempt block Obama’s plans. The dispute has taken on added intensity this year because the White House has launched a final push to close to the prison before Obama leaves office.

In a statement, Obama said that he is “deeply disappointed that the Congress has again failed to take productive action toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo.”

The White House and the Pentagon are preparing to send to Congress a plan outlining more precisely how it would shutter the prison and where in the U.S. might transfer detainees.

The White House announced the signing Wednesday afternoon along with five other bills.

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