WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled House voted Tuesday to condemn President Barack Obama for failing to give 30 days' notice to Congress about the exchange in May of American prisoner Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The vote was 249-163, with 22 Democrats -- many locked in tough re-election races -- breaking ranks and backing the nonbinding resolution.
The four representatives from Arkansas, all Republicans with military backgrounds, co-sponsored the resolution and voted in favor of it Tuesday.
In a statement, Rep. Tim Griffin, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, called the decision to release Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay "not only wrong but also unlawful."
"Today's bipartisan resolution makes clear that the President's go-it-alone approach is unacceptable. Instead of keeping Congress in the dark, especially on high-risk national security issues, the President should work with us to ensure the safety of all Americans," he said.
In a statement Rep. Steve Womack, a retired National Guard colonel, said the resolution used the "strongest words possible."
"By acting unilaterally to release the Taliban 5, President Obama has jeopardized the safety of our nation and our people," he said. "His decision amounts to negotiating with terrorists, which the American people can neither afford nor tolerate."
The Arkansans are among many lawmakers who have insisted that Obama violated a law requiring the administration to notify Congress at least 30 days before transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison. A Government Accountability Office report last month also reached that conclusion.
"The administration deprived Congress of the opportunity to consider the national security risk or the repercussions of negotiating with terrorists," said Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
The resolution, which lacks the force of law and won't be considered in the Senate, "condemns and disapproves of the failure of the Obama administration to comply with the lawful 30-day statutory reporting requirement in executing the transfer of five senior members of the Taliban from detention at United States Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."
The measure says these actions "have burdened unnecessarily the trust and confidence in the commitment and ability of the Obama administration to constructively engage and work with Congress."
Five senior Taliban members were released in exchange for Bergdahl, an Army sergeant who had disappeared from his post in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. The five Taliban members are to remain in Qatar for a year.
Some in Congress have accused Bergdahl of being a deserter and said the United States gave up too much for his freedom. Bergdahl is performing administrative duties at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio while an investigation into how he was captured by the Taliban is conducted.
Several lawmakers also cited intelligence suggesting the high-level Taliban officials could return to the Afghanistan battlefield.
The administration has offered a number of explanations for keeping Congress in the dark about the prisoner exchange, including saying that Bergdahl's health and safety required speedy action.
It also has said there were concerns that lawmakers would divulge details of the deal and scuttle it, although up to 90 members of the administration knew of the exchange.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously supported the exchange, insisting that the United States has a sacred commitment to men and women who serve that it will never leave anyone behind on the battlefield. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said the swap in May was "likely our last, best opportunity" to free Bergdahl.
Obama has said his constitutional authority as commander in chief superseded the law to apprise lawmakers.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the president should have notified Congress, but he called the resolution a partisan attack by a Republican House on a Democratic president.
He argued that Republican President George W. Bush repeatedly violated the law with wiretaps and indefinite detentions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, but that Bush didn't face the same backlash as Obama.
Democratic Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, who is facing a tough re-election race in November, backed the resolution, complaining that Obama negotiated with terrorists and treated Congress as an afterthought.
Information for this article was contributed by Donna Cassata of The Associated Press and by Sarah D. Wire of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 09/10/2014