By: Evan Perez

President Barack Obama’s order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January faces snags in Congress that some of the president’s supporters say result from a lack of White House muscle.

The Obama administration won a measure of support last week when House and Senate negotiators agreed on a joint Homeland Security appropriations bill that allows Guantanamo prisoners to be transferred to the U.S. for prosecution if the administration provides a plan for handling each detainee case.

However, just days before, in the full House, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed nonbinding resolutions barring the transfer of prisoners, even for trial.

Both the House and Senate must now sort out what to do when the Homeland Security appropriations legislation reaches the floor.

Republicans assailed the Homeland Security legislation because the language allowing some prisoner transfers emerged during last-minute conference negotiations instead of during earlier committee hearings. Republicans are calling for stronger prohibitions on moving Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. and hope to use the votes in the full Senate and House to highlight what they describe as dangerous Democratic policies.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R., Calif.), the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said Democrats in the Homeland Security bill “defied the will of Congress and the American people and have voted to allow terrorist detainees to be brought onto American soil at taxpayer expense.”

Supporters of closing Guantanamo quickly are criticizing the White House, saying the administration has a scattershot approach toward corralling Democrats in Congress. “There hasn’t been a visible effort to make the case,” said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. He said the White House effort has lacked a “point person” for the issue on Capitol Hill and the president himself hasn’t spoken out.

“There’s nothing outside groups can do to meet the cynical criticism in Congress, to buck up the president’s supporters if he’s not seen talking about these issues himself,” Mr. Malinowski said.

Administration officials acknowledge they will likely not meet the president’s January deadline to close the prison, where 221 detainees remain after Friday’s announced transfer of prisoners to Belgium and Kuwait. Even if some are allowed to come to the U.S. to face trial, the Obama administration still has no clear route for dealing with those it says must be held indefinitely without trial.

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By: Evan Perez

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay by January “has proven more complicated than anticipated” but the Obama administration is committed to the goal even if it misses its deadline.

President Barack Obama’s decision to close the prison for terror suspects, announced Jan. 22 in one of his first acts as president, has run into trouble in Congress, where some Democrats are pushing even more strongly than Republicans against the administration’s plans.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) recently inserted language in a bill to bar the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo to the U.S. During a recent committee hearing on the 2010 defense budget, Mr. Inouye said, “We have not provided funding for the closure of Guantanamo, because the administration has yet to produce a credible plan.”

Obama administration officials have spent months reviewing the cases of the detainees at the prison, where 223 men remain. Over the weekend, Ireland accepted two prisoners for resettlement, and Yemen accepted one of its nationals who had been ordered released by U.S. courts.

Administration officials say they expect to make additional resettlement announcements and to bring criminal charges against other detainees, paving the way for their transfer to the U.S. for trial. The officials say they expect to beat a Nov. 16 deadline to announce the first wave of decisions about whether certain detainees will be prosecuted in federal courts or in a revised version of the military commissions started under President George W. Bush.

Republicans, including some who support the prison’s closure, have criticized Mr. Obama for being hasty in announcing a deadline. Other senators who oppose closing the prison have raised security objections to bringing to the U.S. prisoners once described as the “worst of the worst.” Senate Republicans have used the issue as a campaign cudgel, including a warning in a Web advertisement: “Terrorists — Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.”

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