Kent Conrad: “This may be a very critical moment for this body and this Committee and this Budget Act.”

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

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

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