Kent Conrad: “The message, as I understand it, is that they want to send a clear and unmistakable signal to the Congress and to the…”

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…

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.

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

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