Kent Conrad: “The hearing will come to order. I want to welcome everyone this morning to this hearing of the Senate Budget Committee.”

All the talk in the world doesn't matter if you don't actually get something done in the real world.

The surviving spouse provisions are especially important with regard to offsetting some of the unfairness that exists elsewhere.

The bottom 20 percent of earners get a 35-percent increase over what is scheduled, a more than 60-percent increase over what is payable.

This Retirement Security Plan structure that we have suggested I think would go a long way toward dealing with these issues.