Orrin Hatch actually said...

The time is here. We can't put it off any longer. We must move forward now to get this done for our workers, our businesses, and our country...

The most immediate effect on these miners will be at the end of this year for the 21,000-plus who will lose their health care completely.

Politically speaking, it is almost impossible to default on public employee pension benefits.

It seems to me that there is a basic inconsistency of treatment among different groups of retirees in the path we are on.