I supported it numerous times. My point there was that there were--a balanced-budget amendment is going to take years to ratify.

I think the appropriate way to approach this is to set the size of the government as a percent of GDP.

There are very tough votes that are going to have to be made here that have nothing to do with whether or not you are for or against a balanced-budget amendment.

I think that the budget process is probably the wrong vehicle.

the problem is in the entitlement accounts when it comes to spending.

I think you need an agreement that is a hybrid reconciliation bill--it probably shouldn't even be called 'reconciliation'--but that essentially outlines in very specific language as to what the committees of jurisdiction must do, and the…

I actually believe if you do Medicare reform correctly, you actually get a better system at a lower cost, which is exactly what we need.

I don't think you can get there without doing what Dr. Rivlin referred to, which is you shift from a utilization system to a qualities and outcome system.

If our goal is to reach a deal, we should not get engaged in this fight.

I think Dr. Rivlin is absolutely correct on both points, and Simpson-Bowles did the same thing that Domenici-Rivlin did, which was to actually increase benefits to single women over 85, and low-income individuals.

We must renew our focus on the remaining elements of fiscal reform.