President Obama has sent a letter to Congress calling for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

President Obama has sent a letter to Congress calling for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. 
In the January 19 memo to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Orrin Hatch, Obama begins by writing, “For 15 years, the United States has detained hundreds of people at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, a facility that never should have been opened in the first place.” 
He goes on to cite its use as a terrorist propaganda tool and its high operational costs before stating, “As President, I have tried to close Guantanamo.”
And, despite a plan in place to do so, Obama blames politics for a failure to see it through, writing, “There is simply no justification beyond politics for the Congress' insistence on keeping the facility open.” 
As such, the president eventually states, “Once again, I encourage the Congress to close the facility.” 
He also concludes by telling the lawmakers that “it is long past time to end this chapter in our history.” 
According to NPR, Obama had declared his intent to close the facility at the beginning of his first term in 2009, and despite the recent transfer of 10 detainees to Oman, 45 people still remain in the prison. 
On Tuesday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, addressed the issue by saying, “At this point, I don’t anticipate that we will succeed in that goal of closing the prison, but it’s not for a lack of trying.”