One of those hostages, Moorhead Kennedy, lives in Maine and is here today. I am very pleased that he is present for this hearing.

Overall the reality is that nothing we have done has, in my opinion, affected at all the onward movement of the Iranian nuclear weapons program.

the only prayer of a chance we have to stop their nuclear program is if they have no doubts about our will, our strength, and our steadfastness.

It is time for our government to name and publish the companies that are investing in Iran.

It requires a kind of willing suspension of disbelief to think that the State Department has been investigating this question for 12 years without making a single determination.

Rather, it must be the Congress that sets the agenda, identifies the problems, closes the loopholes and guarantees enforcement of the law of the land.

There is no greater threat to global security than the Iranian regime's quest for nuclear weapons.

The facts cry out for us to adopt new legislation.

We no longer should allow businesses to do both.

In light of the danger posed by the Iranian nuclear threat, we must take every possible economic, political, and diplomatic measure to demonstrate to Iran's leaders that the price for its nuclear program has simply become too high.

Senator Joe Lieberman today introducing legislation to strip Americans of their citizenship if they're found to be involved in terrorism; critics say the Terrorism Expatriation Act, or the T-Act is unconstitutional.

We are holding this hearing today in the dispatch of our responsibility to inquire as to the impact passage of your legislation could have on our homeland security.

Oddly, strangely, in this case, though the Department of Justice may be informed that your name is on a terrorism watch list, they can't stop you from buying a gun. That's what we're trying to -- a gap we're trying to fill here with this…

Very impressive and reassuring.

I just want to draw attention to something you said, and we will come back to it because it really is important.

To what extent can one conclude that the purchase of a firearm by somebody who is a terrorism suspect and, therefore, on the watchlist may indicate that person is moving to activate, to be operational, to actually carry out a terrorist…

I encourage the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass this important bill.

I gather from previous testimony and just hearsay that Attorney General Holder has said he would support such legislation, but I gather that that has not been specifically conveyed to you.

If anybody is on a terrorism watchlist because somebody suspects that they may be a terrorist, it is in the interest of everybody else on that plane and of society to at least stop them and give them a secondary screening.

Of course, it is true that even if the terror gap in our background check system were to be fixed, terror suspects and other dangerous people would still be able to go to gun shows to buy guns without any background check at all.

We simply cannot stop, no matter how hard we try, every attempt, and that is where the citizenry becomes 300 million plus more security providers for our country.

Senator Lautenberg, you have been a real leader on this.

This is an extraordinarily limited law that is being proposed by Congressman King and others to say that somebody who is a suspected terrorist cannot buy a gun.

Our message was that we cannot wait for another Fort Hood to happen before we take action.

I just do not see an argument that is based on the rights of law-abiding citizens to own guns.