This page contains bill sponsorships in the Senate and House. Bill sponsorships indicate the topics that legislators are most interested in, and spend the most time on.

15_H401 on Jan 16, 2015

Proponents reasons for voting YEA: Rep. WALORSKI: 21 terrorists have been released just in November alone to foreign countries. This measure would repeal current law that has allowed the administration to transfer prisoners to foreign countries and reduce the population at GTMO down to 127. Detainees at GTMO pose a real threat to our national security. HR 401 would prohibit any detainee transfers to Yemen. Yemen's branch of al Qaeda was founded by former GTMO detainees. We cannot risk trusting the world's most dangerous terrorists to its most dangerous places, nor should we simply cut them loose in rich, stable countries with no security safeguards in place.

Opponents reasons for voting NAY: (CloseGuantanamo.org article, Jan. 2015): The prison at Guantanamo Bay has been open for 13 years. In 2009, President Obama pledged to close Guantanamo within a year. Yet it remains open, undermining America's values and national security. Almost half of the remaining 122 prisoners--55 men in total--were cleared for release in 2010 through 2013. Some of these men were previously cleared by the Bush Administration--some as long ago as 2004. It is unacceptable that the U.S. government continues to hold men that its own national security experts have recommended for release or transfer, and that Congress has intervened to maintain this deplorable state of affairs. We call for the immediate closure of Guantanamo. Guantanamo harms our nation every day it stays open, and it continues to serve as a potent symbol for terrorist recruitment. Also see equivalent Senate bill S.165

Participating counts on VoteMatch question 14. Question 14: Support American Exceptionalism Scores: -2=Strongly oppose; -1=Oppose; 0=neutral; 1=Support; 2=Strongly support.
• Topic: Homeland Security
• Headline: No transfers of Gitmo prisoners to US or abroad (Score: 2)
• Headline 2: No transfers of Gitmo prisoners to US or abroad (Score: 2)
  
  Participating counts on AmericansElect question 5.
• Headline: No transfers of Gitmo prisoners to US or abroad (Answer: A)
• Headline 2: No transfers of Gitmo prisoners to US or abroad (Answer: A)
• AmericansElect Quiz Question 5 on Foreign Policy: When you think about the US pursuing its interests abroad, which of the following is closest to your opinion?
  • A: The US should always act in its own interest regardless of what other countries think
  • B: The US should rarely listen to other countries
  • C: The US should listen to other countries more often than not
  • D: The US should always listen to other countries before pursuing its own interests
  • E: Unsure
  
  
  
• Key for participation codes:
• Sponsorships: p=sponsored; o=co-sponsored; s=signed
• Memberships: c=chair; m=member; e=endorsed; f=profiled; s=scored
• Resolutions: i=introduced; w=wrote; a=adopted
• Cases: w=wrote; j=joined; d=dissented; c=concurred
• Surveys: '+' supports; '-' opposes.