Kent Conrad: “There are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never have been.”

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.

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.

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

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