Kent Conrad: “This issue is critically important. It is a national priority.”

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

Can I just respond quickly, Mr. Chairman, and say when Simpson-Bowles went down, a group of six of us in the Senate, three Democrats, three Republicans, were asked by leadership to see if we couldn't come up with a way forward to adopt the…

The one thing I know for sure is that what is happening now is not working.

We admire that, and I can say on both sides of the aisle, people recognize the job he did as Budget Committee Chairman.