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Sen. Moran Offers Key Amendments to National Defense Authorization Bill

Amendments Restrict Guantanamo Bay Transfers, Increase Armed Forces End Strength

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) this week introduced three amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to strengthen prohibitions on the transfer of detainees from the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, (GITMO) to foreign nations and increase the end strength levels in our armed forces.

“In President Obama’s desperate attempt to close GITMO and fulfill a campaign promise, he is compromising our national security and has yet to provide a comprehensive plan that legally justifies his closure strategy as mandated by Congress,” said Sen. Moran. “After visiting the detention facility in March with Sens. Gardner and Daines, it is clear that the administration’s current authority to transfer detainees to foreign nations is far-reaching and puts Americans at risk when more than 30 percent of released detainees return to the battlefield.”

Sen. Moran’s first amendment, sponsored by U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) prevents the Department of Defense (DoD) from using any funds for the design or planning of construction or modification to facilities in the United States for the purpose of housing GITMO detainees.

Sen. Moran’s second amendment, sponsored by U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-Mont.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), strengthens the certification requirements relating to the transfer or release of GITMO detainees.

Sen. Moran continued, “With threats to our national security across the globe, our military cannot afford to degrade their readiness and ability to shape security environments and win wars. We must prioritize readiness with increased end-strength levels in our armed forces to ensure that we can meet a vast landscape of global threats, whether aggression from Iran, the rise of ISIS, a resurgent Russia, the military build-in by China or an unpredictable North Korea.”

Sen. Moran’s third amendment, sponsored by U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), revises the permanent active duty end strength minimum levels for the Armed Forces and certain fiscal year 2017 end strengths for the Selected Reserve.

Full text of the first amendment, #4068, is available here.

Full text of the second amendment, #4070, is available here.

Full text of the third amendment, #4069, is available here.