Kent Conrad: “One of the rules of any Senate hearing is that there be no open expression of approval or disapproval for the testimony…”

I thought he was an outstanding Committee Chairman, and my former intern has succeeded him in his Congressional seat.

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…

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

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.