We have an opportunity, but we have an obligation to senior citizens and to the younger people who are entering the workforce today to help ensure that they are going to be able to trust the government to have a workable program that benefits them as well.

However Cochran has considerable influence behind the scenes especially in Mississippi. This made him the first Republican to win a statewide election in Mississippi in a century. As of 2010 he is the sixth-longest currently serving Senator and the third longest-serving Republican.

Cochran is the fourth most-senior Senator and the second most-senior Republican member. William Thad Cochran (born December 7 1937) is the senior United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party.