Kent Conrad: “We are trying to organize it so that in the end there has to be a bipartisan agreement.”

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…

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