Kent Conrad: “People are smart, and if you just share with them the basic information, a lot of people will make a good decision.”

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.

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.

It takes guts to do that, and Chairman Arrington, you have certainly led the charge on having a commission.