Pete Hoekstra

Contact: Dave Yonkman 202-225-4401

Hoekstra Statement on Bipartisan Congressional Refusal to Fund Closing Guantanamo Bay
House, Senate Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Bills Stripped of Closure Funding

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Washington, May 21, 2009 - U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, issued the following statement after the Senate joined the House in refusing to provide funding in a wartime supplemental appropriations bill for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay:

"The House and Senate have clearly rejected the notion of bringing trained terrorist detainees into neighborhoods in the United States. The votes taken in both chambers to eliminate funds to close Guantanamo Bay show the extent of the broad, bipartisan opposition to President Obama’s hasty decision to close the facility.

"America is not keeping 240 of the world’s most dangerous terrorists at Guantanamo because we want to, it’s because it is the best solution available. I have pledged to vigorously fight any attempt to bring trained terrorists into Michigan, and a number of lawmakers from both parties have stated they will do the same for their states.

"The bipartisan opposition, combined with the failure of European allies who welcomed the president’s decision to close the prison but have been anything but welcoming to moving Guantanamo terrorists to Europe, raises serious doubts that the president can meet his self-imposed deadline to shutter Gitmo.

"The decision to turn America’s vital counterterrorism programs into political fodder was irresistible to some during the last election. But as the Obama administration is discovering, making actual national security decisions is much tougher than campaign rhetoric."


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Editors’ Note: Hoekstra, along with Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other ranking Republicans, two weeks ago introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, H. R. 2294, to (1) affirm Congress’ opposition to transferring or releasing terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay prison into the United States; (2) prohibit the Administration from transferring or releasing any terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay to any state without express approval from the state’s governor and legislature; and (3) prohibit the President from transferring or releasing a terrorist detainee into the United States unless he provides notification and certification to Congress.