WASHINGTON, D.C.– According to the Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon’s latest proposal to close the Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) detention center “would require as much as $600 million.” It has been reported that President Obama rejected this plan and sent it back for revisions to make it more cost effective. After learning of the report, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) released the following statement:

“This report is yet another reason why it would be a mistake to close Guantanamo Bay. It’s time for President Obama to listen to the American people and drop his reckless, expensive plans to close the detention center. Folks in Kansas agree – we don’t want Guantanamo Bay terrorists living next door.”

Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reported that in order to help cut costs, “one idea is to eliminate the requirement that detainees be tried by military commissions, and instead to try them in the federal court system, according to one senior defense official.”

Said Congresswoman Jenkins: “These are enemy combatants; they should be tried as such instead of through the federal court system as if they were a common criminal. The idea that the President would even consider this reckless scheme to cut costs and establish a false rationale to close GTMO shows that he is willing to try anything to keep his campaign promise – even potentially jeopardizing our national security. “

Items To Note:

Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins and Leavenworth Mayor Lisa Weakley published a joint editorial in the Independent Journal Review explaining their bipartisan opposition to President Obama’s attempts to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
(Jenkins, Weakley, IJReview: Why We Don’t Want Guantanamo In Our Backyard, 12/1/15)