DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has passed a $607 billion defense bill that bans moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States — something Barack Obama has been trying to do since he was sworn in as president.

The Senate’s vote of 91 to 3 gave final legislative approval to the measure. The House has already passed it with a veto-proof majority, 370-58.

Obama does not like the Guantanamo provisions. But so far, the White House has not threatened to veto the bill.

The legislation has become a lightning rod for debate over whether the president needs congressional approval to move some of the remaining 112 detainees from the U.S. detention center in Cuba to the United States, or if he could do it with an executive order.

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DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is expected to pass a bill that bans moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States — something Barack Obama has been trying to do since he was sworn in as president.

The Senate plans to vote Tuesday on the $607 billion defense policy bill, which passed the House last week, 370-58.

While current law and the new bill prohibits Obama from moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, lawmakers are voicing opposition to the prospect that Obama could do it through executive action.

The Pentagon is expected soon to release a report that addresses the possibility of housing some of the remaining 112 detainees in Colorado, Kansas or South Carolina prisons.

Congress has repeatedly thwarted Obama’s effort to fulfill a campaign promise to close the prison.