Pat Roberts Threatens to 'Shut Down the Senate' if Obama Moves Gitmo Terrorists to U.S.

Pat Roberts Threatens to 'Shut Down the Senate' if Obama Moves Gitmo Terrorists to U.S.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) is threatening to “shut down the Senate” if President Obama uses executive power to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and bring its terrorist prisoners to the U.S. 

“I stopped him once from trying to send a Gitmo terrorist to [Fort] Leavenworth. I shall do it again, I shall do it again and if he tries it again I will shut down the Senate,” Roberts said Friday in Topeka, according to The Hill.

Roberts, who is facing a tight reelection race against Independent Greg Orman, told reporters that he would filibuster on the Senate floor for hours, in the same manner Ted Cruz did to protest Obamacare last year.  

“Once you get control of the floor you just don’t leave it. Ted Cruz did that with regard to ObamaCare. If necessary, I’ll do it with terrorists,” he said, according to The Hill’s report.

The Kansas lawmaker added that he expects he would find a lot of support from his Senate colleagues.

“I will have help on this. I can see John McCain there and I can see Lindsey Graham there and I can see Kelly Ayotte there and I can see a whole bunch of other people there,” Roberts said, according to the report, which noted that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who is campaigning with Roberts this week, indicated he would participate in the filibuster as well.

On the House side, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that the GOP caucus is united against allowing the terrorists to come to the United States. 

“House Republicans have kept our Pledge to America to keep these terrorists out of the United States, and we will do everything within our power to keep our pledge and hold the administration accountable,” he said in a statement Friday. 

The reaction came in response to a Wall Street Journal report citing “senior administration officials” revealing that “the White House is drafting options” to move the terrorist detainees to the U.S. 

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