Obama signs spending bill that averts government shutdown, provides window for

U.S. Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said he agreed with Obama that the bill was bad for national security.

It’s not just their complaint – President Obama threatened to veto it over the same concerns earlier this year, and White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Wednesday that Obama still plans to veto the bill over the budgeting concerns.

The bill bans torture, stating that interrogation techniques must abide by the Army Field Manual. “If the administration complains about the provisions concerning Guantanamo, then it’s their fault because they never came forward with a plan”.

The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded into December and avert an immediate shutdown. Jack Reed, the top Democrats on the defense committees, signed the conference report of the final bill.

House Armed Services Chairman Mac Thornberry told reporters Monday he and McCain had made “good progress” and that he was “very much hopeful” it would be finalized this week, Politico reported.

United States lawmakers, frustrated at President Barack Obama’s failure to submit a plan to shutter Guantanamo, announced Tuesday they will bar for another year any detainee transfers from the controversial prison to American soil.

With the threat of shutdown defused, Republican leaders in Congress are turning toward talks with Obama over a long-term budget agreement for the remainder of fiscal year 2016, and potentially beyond.

The measure also includes outlines for an extra $38 billion in overseas contingency funds to help the Defense Department get around mandatory spending caps for the new fiscal year that begins Thursday – a move that has prompted threats of a White House veto of the bill. It provides direct avenues to give lethal assistance to the Kurds and Ukraine.

Unable to pass a bill without the hawks’ votes, GOP leaders relented – but added the funding as emergency war-spending, which isn’t counted against the sequester caps. It includes an additional $600 million to train-and-equip Syrian rebels, specifying that the administration must get approval for each withdrawal it makes.

When asked by a reporter whether he would advance a debt limit bill before resigning from Congress on October 30, Boehner said: “We’ll have to see”.

Moreover, it bans detainees from being transferred to Yemen, Libya, Somalia or Syria, although congressional staff members said it didn’t appear the administration had any intention of transferring any to these volatile nations.