Obama on Defense Bill: I'm Signing This, But I Don't Like All of It

President Obama signed the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013” into law Wednesday. H.R. 4310 “authorizes essential support for service members and their families, renews vital national security programs, and helps ensure that the United States will continue to have the strongest military in the world,” the president said in an official White House statement upon passage.

Obama made clear that although he signed the bill into law, he did not agree 100 percent with all 680 pages of written material.

“Our Constitution does not afford the President the opportunity to approve or reject statutory sections one by one. I am empowered either to sign the bill, or reject it, as a whole. In this case, though I continue to oppose certain sections of the Act, the need to renew critical defense authorities and funding was too great to ignore,” Obama stated.

“My Administration remains fully committed to continuing the successful implementation of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and to protecting the rights of gay and lesbian service members,” he said.

Sections 1025, 1022, 1027, and 1028 were referenced in the statement as well. On the subject of Guantanamo Bay, specifically:

“Section 1027 renews the bar against using appropriated funds for fiscal year 2012 to transfer Guantanamo detainees into the United States for any purpose. I continue to oppose this provision, which substitutes the Congress's blanket political determination for careful and fact-based determinations, made by counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals, of when and where to prosecute Guantanamo detainees. For decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have successfully prosecuted hundreds of terrorists in Federal court. Those prosecutions are a legitimate, effective, and powerful tool in our efforts to protect the Nation, and in certain cases may be the only legally available process for trying detainees. Removing that tool from the executive branch undermines our national security. Moreover, this provision would, under certain circumstances, violate constitutional separation of powers principles,” Obama said.

Read more about H.R. 4310 here.