Judd Gregg: “is it now in order to move on to the amendment of the Senator from New Mexico? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is…”

I would suggest that on issues that involve all Americans, where pretty much everybody is affected, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and tax reform, that if you push forward in a partisan way, at least 50 percent, maybe a little less…

Had it been actually a legislative vehicle versus a commission, we probably would be out of the woods right now on our deficit and debt issues.

I think Dr. Rivlin is absolutely correct on both points, and Simpson-Bowles did the same thing that Domenici-Rivlin did, which was to actually increase benefits to single women over 85, and low-income individuals.

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