Bob Menendez

The dimensions of the citizen security crisis in Central America cannot be understated.

Part of our international assistance package should be encouraging and helping those countries to develop adequate programs at home.

One of my concerns is that we always think, for example, of Central America as a transit point, and now increasingly it seems to be a production point.

I would agree with that, also suggest that there be efforts to establish a political consensus around reinstating the assault weapons ban.

It is imperative that the United States and other traditional consumers like Western Europe reduce demand.

I don't understand the lack of effort on the front end to undermine the gunrunning into Mexico, which would be in our own interests at the end of the day.

I'm a very simple man from the Texas Panhandle and I have to think in very simple terms as to how we address this problem.

We need to address the factors that perpetuate the narcotics trade, namely poverty and lack of economic opportunity.

I hope integration will be part of your mission moving forward.

Development is part of it.

We should at least line up the funding with the threat at the end of the day.

I just don't get how, when we are seeing a rising challenge... this is just one of those equations that just doesn't work.

A former ATF commander said stemming the flow of guns to Mexico is a Herculean task.

The funding seems to be incongruent with the threat.

Why the reduction when the challenge is greater?

I am concerned about a major breach with our partner, Mexico, in this.

Official responses to crime in many cases have not remedied the problem; have only exacerbated it.

Do we really think it's just two or three?

Why, of the $1.6 billion in law enforcement support promised under the Merida initiative, only $20 million of it had been spent by April of last year?

The recipe for victory in my mind is clear. Our efforts must be shouldered jointly, recognizing a shared responsibility to address supply and demand for narcotics.

I don't want you to give me specifics and I know all about grand juries. The question is are we making it a priority to ensure that we take advantage of this opportunity to get information and evidence that could be brought to court…

I have been pursuing with other colleagues from the committee the issue of Libya and Qadhafi's engagement with the bombing of Pan Am 103.

We don't want to end up arming another Taliban.

Second, I always hear that the Community Reinvestment Act is to blame for the crisis because it supposedly forced banks to lend to minorities whose loans were bad, when, in fact, isn't it true that only 6 percent of the subprime loans were…

So I guess this is one of those things that if you say a lie enough it ultimately somebody will believe it, because the facts clearly do not substantiate that.