the first obligation of a national government is national defense, in my opinion.

That is actually why I was so encouraged by the President putting 'change CPI' on the table.

I think Simpson-Bowles got it right on this point. We reduced deductions and exemptions so that we generated $1.1 trillion of revenue every year.

I actually believe if you do Medicare reform correctly, you actually get a better system at a lower cost, which is exactly what we need.

I think you need an agreement that is a hybrid reconciliation bill--it probably shouldn't even be called 'reconciliation'--but that essentially outlines in very specific language as to what the committees of jurisdiction must do, and the…

It is a better solution than doing nothing.

the problem is in the entitlement accounts when it comes to spending.

In my view, if the Durbin approach was followed, it should be--that Commission should report by Easter and vote on it before the summer recession.

That means setting up a definable process for getting to closure on an agreement on entitlement spending and on revenues.

There are very tough votes that are going to have to be made here that have nothing to do with whether or not you are for or against a balanced-budget amendment.

I think the appropriate way to approach this is to set the size of the government as a percent of GDP.

Those would go an inordinate amount of the way, but you should also adjust the BIN points, obviously, which is means-testing, and probably the age.

I supported it numerous times. My point there was that there were--a balanced-budget amendment is going to take years to ratify.

I do believe the size of the government is going to have to grow simply because of the demographic shift.

Design the programs. Decide how large the government is going to be. Do a tax reform to finance it.

I think you have to act to show seriousness of purpose as soon as possible.

Do you separate out Social Security from the others? I think you should.

I am a great believer in investing in infrastructure. I believe that that does give you a very significant return.