WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has hammered President Barack Obama over his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay terror suspect prison, observers say.
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reported Sunday McConnell, R-Ky., has spoken on the Senate floor 14 times since April 20 to criticize the president's intention to close the detention facility in Cuba.
Political observers say McConnell and other Republicans are hoping to turn the president's Guantanamo Bay decision into a political issue for the president and his fellow Democrats who back the plan.
"The Republicans are trying to lay the groundwork for claiming an issue … by trying to stir up concerns about Democratic national security credentials," said Sarah Binder, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
For their part, Democrats have shot back, saying McConnell is desperate to breath life into the GOP following its electoral defeats and lagging poll numbers.
Their attacks represent "fear mongering," said Ryan Rudominer, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The newspaper noted that the Senate this week will consider a supplemental war spending bill that includes $80 million to close Guantanamo by January and transfer its inmates.
The Obama administration has yet to say where it wants to put the detainees.
