Kent Conrad: “Let me finish. Then I would be happy to yield. There is no way to assure that other provisions might be added, and so we…”

We did a whole series of things in our Social Security reform not to discourage people from working, but to encourage them to continue working if they are able to do so.

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

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

The consequence of failure has to be made clear.