Kent Conrad: “Make no mistake. We are at a critical juncture.”

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.

Social Security's financial challenge affects nearly our entire society, and the solutions will require a broad-based approach.

I do, and I made that argument to the commission, and others on the commission made some of the points that you are making now.

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…