Staff Report
Republican ranking members today demanded answers to questions posed over the past 10 months about the Obama administration’s decision to close Guantanamo Bay.
In a letter to President Obama, the ranking members outlined the national-security concerns posed by the decision and insisted that the administration provide responses to the American people before any terrorists are imported to the U.S. for detention or prosecution.
Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee Ranking Member Frank Wolf (R-Va.) released the letter at press conference today in Washington.
“Throughout this year, a bipartisan majority in Congress has listened to the American people and voted against importing these dangerous terrorists into the U.S.,” the nembers said in the letter to President Obama. “Republicans want to work in a bipartisan way on a comprehensive plan to keep America safe, but we will not stand by as your Administration defies the will of the American people and brings these terrorists to U.S. soil.”
The members also introduced a discharge petition to force a vote H.R. 2294, the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act. Republican Leader Boehner introduced the bill earlier this year, along with 169 Republicans, to require the president to notify Congress 60 days before the transfer or release of a Gitmo detainee occurs and to certify that such a transfer or release will not result in the release of any detainee into the U.S., adversely affect the prosecution of any detainee, or otherwise pose a security risk to the U.S.
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