Harrison Township, MI – U.S. Congresswoman Candice Miller (MI-10) today spoke out against President Obama’s plan to reject a Congressional provision placing limits on funding for the transfer or release of current Guantanamo Bay prisoners through a Presidential signing statement in which he would disregard this provision of the law. The Guantanamo provision, included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 currently waiting the President’s signature, limits the President for one year by blocking funding for the transfer or release of a detainee to a facility within any U.S. territory. In addition, the provision withholds funding for the construction or use of a facility to replace the Guantanamo detention center. Miller is the appointed-Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security for the 112th Congress, which will convene on January 5th. Miller said the following:

“If President Obama believes that this provision intrudes on his authority as commander in chief, then he must agree that these detainees are not simply common criminals, but are enemy combatants captured on foreign battlefields and thus should be tried in military commissions. A broad bipartisan majority of both houses of Congress supported this provision which bars expending any funds for the transfer of these terrorist enemies into our nation in order to deny them access to our civilian courts. This provision also has the overwhelming support of the American people.

“The President is also wrong to suggest that Congress has gone beyond its Constitutional authority in this instance because the Constitution clearly grants Congress the power of the purse. The Administration cannot expend funds for any purpose that has been expressly forbidden by Congress.

“The President must abandon his goal to try these enemies of our nation in civilian courts in defiance of the will of Congress and the American people. We must not provide these terrorists a taxpayer-funded public venue to spout their venom against our nation. And if the President is determined to work against the will of Congress, then he should use the only tool available to him under the Constitution and veto the legislation. Congress should then act quickly to override that veto so the will of the American people can be carried out.”

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