Hawaii’s two representatives were in the majority of a 340-73 vote this week in the U.S. House approving a $491 billion spending bill for the Pentagon that also “seeks to prevent future prisoner transfers from Guantanamo Bay.”

“The Obama administration has said it ‘strongly opposes’ the bill, but has stopped short of a veto threat,” according to The Hill. “It has objected to the Guantanamo prisoner restrictions, as well as language in the bill that would prevent discussion on a new round of base closures.”

Hawaii’s congresswomen were pleased with what the bill can do for the islands.

“The legislation provides critical funding for missile defense initiatives, including the Aegis Ashore program based on Kauai, an investment in our defense against direct, belligerent threats from North Korea toward the people of Hawaii and our country,” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said in a press release.

“We continue to see how defense spending can promote educational programs, and I am happy that we were able to restore funding to programs like STARBASE and improvements to 3 DOD-impacted schools in Hawaii, which were cut as a result of the Bipartisan Budget Act,” Rep. Colleen Hanabusa said in a press release.

A THAAD interceptor missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, June 2010.

Flick: U.S. Missile Defense Agency

Hanabusa said the bill was not perfect and lamented the inclusion of the prohibition on transfer of Guantanamo detainees.

The appropriations bill also includes an amendment introduced by Hanabusa that “will prevent the president from unilaterally committing U.S. forces to operations in Iraq,” she said. The amendment passed unanimously on a voice vote.

The House defeated an amendment from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) that would “prohibit the use of federal dollars toward combat operations in Iraq amid the country’s growing unrest,” according to The Hill. Hanabusa voted for it, Gabbard against it, in a 165-250 vote not entirely along party lines.

Finally, both reps were in the majority on a 293-123 vote for another amendment, this one prohibiting the search of government databases for information on U.S. citizens without a warrant.

“It would further cut off funding for the CIA and National Security Agency to build security vulnerabilities, or ‘backdoors,’ into domestic tech products or services for surveillance purposes,” according to The Hill.

“Millions of innocent Americans have been victims of our government’s illegal spying program for years; it’s time to finally put an end to this unconstitutional program,” said Gabbard, who co-sponsored the amendment, which was authored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).

Here’s video of Hanabusa’s floor speech and Gabbard’s floor speech.