Kent Conrad: “Under the bill that is before us, not until 2008. Under my proposal, there would not be any phase-in. We would do it all…”

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.

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.

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.