Kent Conrad: “All politics is local.”

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

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…

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