Welcome to the Current Legislative Proposals Roundtable

[National Dialogue Moderator <moderator>]

Welcome to the National Dialogue Roundtable on Current Legislative
Proposals.  We are very honored to have three Senators and six
Representatives joining the discussion:

*Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY)
*Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)
*Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
*Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)
*Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
*Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
*Representative Mark Sanford (R-SC)
*Representative Clay Shaw (R-FL)
*Representative Charlie Stenholm (D-TX)

We are still hoping that another 3 Democrats will join us to balance
out the panel.

I'd like to begin by asking each panelist to briefly introduce
themselves.  After we hear from our panelists, I'll ask the first
question this afternoon.

We will discuss one proposal at a time, with the sponsors providing
the advantages of their proposal, and why they chose the particular
reforms that they did.

Everyone can then ask questions and make comments on the proposal.

Near the end of the 2 weeks we will discuss where there is common
ground among the proposals.  Hopefully, the Roundtable will be
helpful to you, the panelists, and the legislative process.  Thanks
for  your participation.

Ron Gebhardtsbauer
Senior Pension Fellow
American Academy of Actuaries