Kent Conrad: “I was going to take some time at this moment on the same subject. I, too, regret we have gotten onto the PATRIOT Act…”

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.

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.

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

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…