Washington, May 23 (RHC) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has rejected an initiative that intended to authorize President Barack Obama to close the prison at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.

Since 2002, the White House has maintained the prison at the naval base located in eastern Cuba against the will of the Cuban government and people.

The initiative, introduced by Democratic lawmakers as part of the national defense budget for 2015, intended to cancel the ban on the transfer of inmates to U.S. mainland territory and the closing of the prison by 2017.  However, it was rejected by 247 votes against and only 177 in favor.

In his State of the Union Address last January, Obama said that 2014 should be the year for Congress to close the infamous prison, which still houses 154 prisoners.

A recent Pentagon report admitted that the prison spends some one billion USD yearly, and the total amount will exceed five billion USD by late 2014.

There have been numerous reports about the use of cruel techniques to torture prisoners, such as depriving them of sleep, keeping the prisoners naked in low temperatures and submitting them to exhausting interrogation.  Also, many prisoners have been force-fed after they went on long periods of hunger strike.