Kent Conrad: “Might I inquire through the Chair if the Senator would allow an interruption for a unanimous consent request with…”

I wish I could look you in the eye and say, you know, if we just had the will, we could reverse this, and we could go back to a time when defined benefit plans were on the increase. I do not think that is in the cards.

I would just say our Retirement Security Plans and our Retirement Security Clearinghouses are responding to the underlying dynamic that Professor Mead has done such a good job in describing.

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

We also increase the payroll tax very modestly, from the current combined rate of 12.4 percent to 13.4 percent over 10 years.