Chris Coons

As Chairman Coons has said, it is a critical country and a critical continent to the United States of America.

A stable and democratic Congo is in America's interest because of its critical role in the region, its large population, and its vast natural resources.

I just want to congratulate you and the agency for being a very successful partner in the war on terror.

How does the FBI differentiate between a criminal cyber threat and one that implicates the national security?

Well, that is a testament to the value that State and local law enforcement finds in partnering with the FBI

The Senate is voting now on an amendment to the United States Constitution.

Although we have a senior Senator who is tireless in his effective advocacy of our State.

That made it possible for our delegation to be represented in Philadelphia and for us to commit to the Declaration by breaking a tie between the other representatives of Delaware in the Continental Congress.

I thank the Senator for entering into this colloquy about Delaware Day. As some folks may know, if you look at the Delaware flag, as the Senator mentioned, there is the date, December 7, 1787. That is the day 30 Delawareans, elected…

I am really concerned that we are not being aggressive enough in this field.

We just need to manage it as appropriately as we can in the interest of the people of the United States.

I intend to vote for it today. So there is not a lot of time for back-channel communication.

I think the Iranians by their actions have finally made abundantly clear to the international community what they are doing and their intentions.

Iran is the most dangerous nation in the world at this point and that this situation, as it steadily moves in a bad direction, is going to push us toward some tough decisions.

I am simply going to renew comments I know you have heard from literally every single member, I believe, of this panel so far about how rapidly Iran is making progress toward the acquisition of a nuclear weapon.

I'm someone who served as a county executive and lived under the strictures of a balanced budget amendment, and thus on some level am intuitively drawn to them as a potential budgetary solution.

Unless you specified in the amendment to the Constitution that the usual rules about standing, political question, ripeness, and mootness were changed specifically for the balanced budget amendment, then you wouldn't have to worry about…

I think most of the members I've gotten to know in my year so far agree that we are fiscally on an unsustainable path.

The American people ought to know in advance whether they're turning the process over to the courts or not.

I think we need--if we're going to pass a balanced budget amendment, which I do not support--to spell out exactly how it's going to be enforced.

I do think it's a significant distinction.

I think that's the way in which you can build the kind of broad consensus that Senator Murkowski was talking about in order to make something that is both sensible and has a chance of enduring.

I am hopeful that out of this hearing we'll move forward with both Pryor's bill and the chairman's bill.

Can you speak to the path forward we might take federally to ensure that legislation that a number of us are cosponsoring actually proceeds that would criminalize these allegedly but I think realistically dangerous substances?

The Economic Espionage Act was passed 15 years ago, and as of October, there have only been eight cases tried under this.