U.S. Sen. Richard Burr reiterated his opposition to closing Guantanamo Bay.

The Winston-Salem Republican, who visited the U.S.-run prison in Cuba earlier this year, told Dome yesterday that he thinks it should remain open.

"Just yesterday, the Director of the FBI said that bringing detainees to the United States would pose a number of risks, even if placed in maximum security prisons," he said in a statement. "His assessment reinforces the fact that we must find a practical alternative before we close the facility or release any detainees."

He said that bringing Guantanamo detainees to the United States "could compromise our national security for years to come."

President Obama has ordered the prison closed by the end of the year, but Congressional Democrats have cut $80 million in funding set aside to close the prison.

After the jump, the complete statement.

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U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said she is "deeply concerned" by a recent report on torture.

The Greensboro Democrat told Dome that she was troubled by a report from the Senate Armed Services Committee about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan.

"I am opposed to torture and deeply concerned about the information revealed in these documents," she said in a statement. "I have two nephews serving our country on active duty and the thought of them being tortured is unfathomable to me."

Hagan added that military psychologists have said the information gleaned from suspects "may have been unreliable and unusable."

"Our country needs reliable and accurate information to protect itself; I'm concerned that the information gained using these techniques was neither," she said.

The 232-page report was drawn from more than 70 interviews and 200,000 pages of classified and unclassified documents.

Both Hagan and Sen. Richard Burr serve on the committee.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is going to Guantanamo Monday.

The Winston-Salem Republican will visit the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba that currently holds about 245 men on suspicion of terrorism.

He'll be joined on the day-long visit by David Vitter of Louisiana, Pat Roberts of Kansas and Sens. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who is organizing the trip.

President Obama signed an executive order calling for the closure of the prison within a year.

Spokesman Chris Walker said Burr wants to understand the "facts on the ground" before making a final decision on his thoughts on Obama's order.

"So far, he's unconvinced that moving trained terrorists to the U.S. is in the best national security interests," he said.  

U.S. Rep. David Price introduced a sweeping bill today to rein in interrogation techniques of suspected terrorists and shutter Guantanamo Bay.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, wants to reverse what his office calls "flawed policies" enacted by the Bush administration since Sept. 11, 2001, Barb Barrett reports.

His bill would repeal the Military Commissions Act and require trials of terrorists in civilian and military justice systems.

It would require the United States to notify the International Red Cross of detentions by intelligence officials and allow visitation by the agency. It would require strategic interrogations to be videotaped.

Price also wants to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and direct the president to set up a detention system that, Price says, does not breed future terrorists.

"What we've been doing for the last seven years simply hasn't worked," Price said. "We need an approach that combines principled leadership with results, and that's what this bill offers."

The bill is co-sponsored by nine other House Democrats, including U.S. Reps. Brad Miller of Raleigh and Mel Watt of Charlotte.

Kal Penn is coming to North Carolina.

The Indian-American actor will make stops in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Elon and Durham this weekend for the Barack Obama campaign.

In case you've never heard of him, the Obama campaign provided this brief bio:

Kal Penn currently stars in the FOX television show House, and he has also appeared on the television shows 24 and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and in movies such as National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and The Namesake. Kal Penn has campaigned for Senator Obama in numerous states, speaking about his belief in Senator Obama's ability to bring about change.

Still not sure who he is? Um, how about "Kumar" from the movie "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and its recent sequel "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay"?

Given that the movies are the Gen-Y equivalent to Cheech & Chong (with a few jokes at the expense of Homeland Security in the second for good measure), it's not surprising that Obama failed to mention them.  

John Edwards said he would like a little less power, if elected.

At a town hall meeting in Tilton, N.H., the former North Carolina senator said that President Bush has overreached while in office, hurting the historical separation of powers.

"We've seen the most dramatic expansion of executive power in our lifetimes under this president," he said.

He said he would restore transparency to presidential decision-making, end the use of signing statements to amend laws, stop "illegal spying" on American citizens, close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and prohibit torture.

"I understand that there are three branches of the federal government," he said, to a burst of applause.