And in the end what ends up happening is you end up having lots of regulations that are not enforced--which I also think is probably one of the biggest problems we have.

So you think we need more money for the Highway Trust Fund.

I believe the government has a role to play in drawing lines, saying, 'You can't cross this line,' for a lot of people.

But I have no interest whatsoever in driving up your costs on unnecessary, duplicative regulation. That is stupid. I am not interested in that.

Whenever the Government reaches into my pocket--and I am a liberal, by the way, I don't mind this--that is a tax.

Currently, about the only reason that we're able to reduce cost to providers is because we have a huge amount of cost sharing.

The free market itself would force the information.

The numbers we came up with, rather than an annual cost for Obamacare of $93 billion, it's closer to almost a trillion dollars a year.

Until we reconnect that, until we re-induce the free market system which, by the way, guarantees, what, the lowest possible price and cost, the highest possible level of quality, the highest possible level of customer service, we're just…

But the second point is to me that shows that there's a pretty receptive audience for structural reform because when you have no expectations of getting a benefit, you probably welcome the fact that if we reform these programs, make them…

Certainly, as I traveled around the State of Wisconsin, when I ask younger people what do you expect to get out of Social Security and Medicare, younger people-- unfortunately for me, that's people probably 50 and under-- without…

If we keep putting off dealing with Medicare's $38 trillion in unfunded liabilities, there will be severe consequences for the country.

I have come to develop a high regard and respect for him as not only a smart senator but as a senator who very much likes and wants to do things in a bipartisan way.

When they first started this program back in 1965, they projected out 25 years and said that by 1990 Medicare would cost $12 billion. In fact, it ended up costing $109 billion, basically nine times the original estimate.

If legislation is not passed to clarify the statute's intent, end-users risk being caught up in the unintended consequences of the Dodd-Frank implementation.

Ensuring that Congressional intent is followed by the CFTC is critically important to the entire end-user community.

End-users rely on derivatives to reduce risk, bring certainty and stability to our business, and ultimately to benefit our customers.

But with unemployment stuck at nine percent, I am not willing to just stand by and keep my fingers crossed, so to speak, that the flaws in the proposed rules will be fixed.