Congress extended a ban Tuesday on the transfer of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to the United States, in a bid to block any attempt by President Barack Obama to close the military prison.

The Senate voted 91 to 3 to approve a revised version of the $615 billion defense policy bill for 2016, which contained the measure extending the ban until December 31, 2016.

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan bill last week, 370-58.

Obama used his executive authority last month to veto an earlier version of the National Defense Authorization Act, largely because of the language on Guantanamo and a dispute over defense spending increases.

This time, the White House did not threaten a veto, and it indicated Tuesday that the president would sign the legislation.

Another veto could have proved embarrassing to Obama because both chambers of the Republican-controlled Congress had mustered the necessary two-thirds majority that would override it.

"We all know the unfortunate and unnecessary roadblocks the defense authorization bill has faced this year," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

"We look forward to ... the president signing the bipartisan bill, along with its restrictions against bringing terrorists into the United States, into law."

The defense bill also provides for a 1.3 percent pay raise for members of the military, and authorizes some $300 million in lethal assistance and training to Ukraine forces fighting Russian-backed rebels.

Obama promised to close the scandal-tainted Guantanamo prison upon taking office in early 2009, but has been stymied by congressional opposition.

Created in 2002 at a US Navy base on the southeastern tip of Cuba, it currently holds 112 "war on terror" prisoners, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The administration has been openly making plans to transfer the 59 most dangerous detainees to the United States. The other 53 have been cleared for transfer to other countries.

Several sites are under consideration, in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina. The Pentagon is expected to release a report on the subject soon.

Such a move would be in complete defiance of Congress, and Republicans have insisted it would be illegal and unconstitutional.

"The Senate has voted many times over the years to enact these bipartisan prohibitions," McConnell said.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, blasted Obama's "reckless" Guantanamo closure plan.

Lawmakers from states with prisons that would house the Guantanamo inmates are particularly incensed by the transfer plans, saying it would make them targets for attack.

"Not only does the president's plan demonstrate a failure to grasp the Islamist terror threat we face, it would end up bolstering extremists' ranks abroad and putting crosshairs on the communities where these fanatics are transferred here at home," McCaul said.