GOP introduces bill to prevent Guantanamo transfers to U.S.

Republicans today introduced legislation to prevent the transfer or release of Guantanamo detainees into the United States without the consent of both the governor and legislature of the state where they’d be headed.

The “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act” would also require the administration to certify that the transfer would not endanger Americans or negatively impact the detainees’ trial or detention.

Introduced by Reps. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.), the legislation is the latest flare-up in the ongoing controversy over how to close Guantanamo.

Today, Attorney General Eric Holder told a congressional panel it would cost $30 million to close the military base and transfer the detainees.

“That strikes the committee as an awful lot of money for bureaucracy,” Sen. Barbara Mikulkski (D-Md.) responded.

The administration has been asking other countries to accept some detainees, but so far has found few takers.