Kent Conrad: “I ask the Chair of the committee if it would be appropriate now to go to the Cantwell amendment?”

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.

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.

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.