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President Obama’s plans to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay by early 2010 were rejected by the Senate on Wednesday and the FBI issued a firm warning against moving detainees to U.S. soil.

Democrats joined Republican in voting 90-6 vote to prohibit transferring to the any of the detainees at the facility to U.S. soil. The Senate also rejected Obama’s appeal request for $80 million to close the prison until he provides a detailed plan for what will be done with the 240 men held at the naval base located on Cuba’s southeastern coast.

The Obama administration “should have focused on a plan for these terrorists first. Once it has one, we’ll consider closing Guantanamo, but not a second sooner,” said Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

FBI Director Robert Mueller dealt another blow to Obama’s goal of closing the prison by January 22, 2010 by rejecting Democratic assertions that maximum-security U.S. prisons can safely hold accused terrorists.

“The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing to terrorists, radicalising others,” said Mueller in a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.

The FBI head also said that the threat of Guantanamo detainees “radicalising” others would be real even if they were held in maximum-security prisons on the U.S. mainland.

Mueller’s comments supported Republican complaints and reflect the public’s deep concern about moving the detainees to the United States – an essential element in closing the prison.

The White House has promised to reveal details of plans for the detainees in a national security speech on Thursday. The Pentagon has said lawmakers were making it “exceedingly difficult” to meet the deadline imposed by the President.

Obama had included $80 million to close Guantanamo Bay as part of an emergency spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The house removed the money out even before the Senate voted to remove it.

Apparently feeling a need to support the President, a handful of Democrats voted against blocking the detainees’ transfer while most sided with the Republicans who had been reeling from their successive election losses in 2006 and 2008.

Some Republicans said they favored closing the prison while warning that some of the suspected high-ranking al-Qaeda terrorists held there may never face trial or be freed.

“Some of these people, literally, are going to die in jail, and that’s okay with me,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “I will not shed a tear.”

However, Graham said he backed Obama’s plan to resume military trials for the prisoners and supports that eventual closing of the prison, which he said would help the United States win in the war on terrorism.

“It would help our war effort. It would help operations in the countries in question, in the Middle East at large. It would repair damage with our allies,” said the former military lawyer.