Ben Cardin

Let me go to another hearing we had in our Subcommittee which dealt with sharing of information among intelligence agencies as well as with local law enforcement, and this has been a continuing battle.

Congress should create a commission to review and make recommendations about the reform and revitalization of America's public media...

Senator Benjamin Cardin has already introduced the Newspaper Revitalization Act which is intended to fully clarify this question.

I also would oppose any government direct bailout to our newspapers.

I do not want to see us do anything that could compromise the independence of the newspaper.

Simply put, the current model doesn't work.

If I had a choice between government without newspapers and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter.

It's clear to me that our newspapers are a check on, not just local government and the Federal Government, but on corporations, on businesses, on community activities.

It's a proposal similar to a measure recently introduced by the distinguished senator from Maryland, Benjamin Cardin.

I do believe in his legislation.

I think the Obama administration would be well advised, if they go into negotiations, to do it in a very--a set basis.

If Iran were to become a nuclear weapons power, it would be a game-changer that would cause major impact in that region--something we cannot allow to happen.

We have an obligation to make sure that our system is done in an adequate way.

This is a matter of, I think, extreme importance for national security.

Using your report based upon their response, it was predominantly a human error problem in the end.

I appreciate that. I think there are two separate issues here.

There has got to be some really good reason for issuing a passport if you have not gotten the information back.

I am not sure we all agree with Senator Feinstein that there should be no exceptions to the rule.

If you believe that the law is inadequate as it relates to those people who have Social Security numbers and providing information for you to do an adequate check, then let us know.

If there is a need for us to strengthen the laws on passport issuance, we want to hear from you.

I am still not comfortable that we have a system in place that will stop the issuance of a passport, checks have been made as to whether this person has a valid Social Security number or not.

Because how do we know that that will not happen--that is not happening right now?

It should never have been issued, but we have taken additional steps to ensure that the 'No record found' will, in fact, stop the adjudication.

And that could lead to prosecution or----

That is even more concerning.