Kent Conrad: “We will be judged whether we were responsible or not.”

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

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.

All the talk in the world doesn't matter if you don't actually get something done in the real world.