Together, you go with a tax proposal and a proposal that reforms Medicare. When you combine the two, you get bipartisan support.

I want each one of you to know I am trying to look you right in the eyes and tell you that, in the U.S. Senate, you happen to be the super committee.

I think it is very important, for some of you who have gone through lame duck, to make sure that you know it is not the best choice of an arena to which you would assign the solution of major problems.

I want to say to all of you that what we have produced by way of a budget, a plan, should really be taken seriously by all of you.

It cries out for reform, even if we did not have a fiscal crisis. It cries out for reform. It is a mess.

I want to say to you first, as a former Republican Senator, remember that we put our plan together starting with bipartisan membership.

Unless you fix Medicare, you cannot fix this deficit.

We are now talking about something different. We are talking about the ratio of debt-to-GDP.

I just celebrated my 80th, you know.

Without the President we do not get it done ought to be the hue and cry from the Congress and the people of this country.

Well, look, from my standpoint it seems to me so obvious that you have to act for your country.

I do not know.

But that is compared to current policy--current policy. If we would compare your plan to current law, it is actually a tax cut.

Might I say, Senator Nelson, I forgot, and I want to second the motion that the best way to get growth in an economy is to have lower marginal rates.

It cries out for flexibility to save money, to do things right, to prevent harming people when they do not have to be.

Well, I would just say that, sometimes when we are working on trying to solve this fiscal problem, the recognition that a long-term fix is what is needed puts many people in the position that they do not know how you do that and do it now.

I do not think I have said verbally that I favor the extension.

I see it as nothing but an obstacle--and we have plenty already--to getting things done.