--- title: Closing Gitmo Will Save $1.7 Billion, Obama Says description: President Obama said taxpayers would save $1.7 billion over the next 20 years by closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 350 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology published: '2016-02-23T20:26:04.000Z' modified: '2024-05-07T10:34:14.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Guantanamo - Guantanamo Bay detainees - Guantanamo Bay Prison - President Obama - pubdesk word_count: 205 canonical: https://money.com/closing-guantanamo-bay-will-save-1-7-billion/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![President Obama Delivers Statement On Plan To Close GITMO Detention Facility](https://img.money.com/2016/02/160223_em_gitmo.jpg) Hey America, how would you like to save $1.7 billion? That's the pitch President Obama is making as he pushes to close Guantanamo Bay. Obama laid out his plan to Congress on Tuesday, arguing that closing the detention facility is both the right thing to do and a move that will save money — specifically, $1.7 billion over 20 years. Obama said it would be cheaper to relocate the remaining detainees — there are 91 that remain at the detention facility — to other countries or prison facilities in the United States. Closing Gitmo has been at the top of the president's priority list for some time, but he is facing objection from some lawmakers concerned about relocating terror suspects onto American soil. Appealing to the budget hawks in Congress by pointing out the savings, up to $85 million a year, is a new tactic to try to persuade Congress to go along with the White House's plan. Using military commissions to review the detention status of a number of inmates has been "very costly," Obama said. "They have resulted in years of litigation without a solution," he added, saying that the government was working on streamlining that process to make it more cost effective. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/closing-guantanamo-bay-will-save-1-7-billion/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Federal Agencies", "item": "https://money.com/federal-agencies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Closing Gitmo Will Save $1.7 Billion, Obama Says" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/closing-guantanamo-bay-will-save-1-7-billion/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/closing-guantanamo-bay-will-save-1-7-billion/", "name": "Closing Gitmo Will Save $1.7 Billion, Obama Says", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-02-23T20:26:04.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/closing-guantanamo-bay-will-save-1-7-billion/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/closing-guantanamo-bay-will-save-1-7-billion/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-07T10:34:14.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Closing Gitmo Will Save $1.7 Billion, Obama Says", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/02/160223_em_gitmo.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1400, "caption": "160223_EM_GITMO" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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