Posted on 02/03/2009 8:06:31 AM PST by MaestroLC
President Obama’s new candidate to run the Commerce Department voted in favor of abolishing the agency as a member of the Budget Committee and on the Senate floor in 1995.
Sen. Judd Gregg , R-N.H., whose nomination was expected to be announced Tuesday, also worked in the Senate to trim the department’s budget as head of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee.
Gregg’s 1995 votes were cast for the fiscal 1996 budget resolution, a nonbinding blueprint that outlined the GOP’s fiscal priorities after Republicans won full control of Congress for the first time in 40 years.
The Senate version of the controversial measure envisioned spending cuts of more than $960 billion, almost half of it from Medicare and Medicaid. Democratic efforts to amend it were uniformly rebuked by a united GOP majority on the Budget Committee.
Ultimately, the Commerce Department survived, and Gregg has since shown more interest than most of his Republican colleagues in funding some of its agencies, particularly the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Gregg also fought President Bill Clinton’s efforts to increase funding for the Commerce Department to administer the 2000 census. Indeed, Gregg’s commitment to basic functions of the department has been questioned at times.
“He was generally pretty harsh on them and not really interested in their programs, especially the commerce side of things,” said a Democratic appropriations aide.
The aide also called Gregg “really smart and hard-working” and said he would work well within Obama’s Cabinet.
It is not unprecedented for a lawmaker who supported abolishing a Cabinet department to take its helm. In 2001, the recently defeated Sen. Spencer Abraham, R‑Mich., was confirmed to run the Energy Department even though he had once cosponsored legislation to eliminate it.
Still, even some Republicans are surprised by Gregg’s apparent enthusiasm for the job. “I guess if you can’t destroy it, go be in charge of it,” said a Senate Republican aide.
Neither Gregg’s office nor the White House replied to requests for comment.
Every day the Obama Administration becomes more of a joke.
It’s definitely a race to the bottom!!
What a disaster our Government has become.
Gregg’s doing this for entirely personal reasons, at the expense of the GOP and those of us that support it.
I honestly don’t care who the Commerce Secretary is. In the scheme of things, its simply not that important.
What I am concerned about is how this will affect the Republicans ability to block the lunatic leftwingnut legislative efforts we all know are coming later this year.
For that alone, Gregg should be castigated by anyone serious about whats taking place politically.
That you John Kerry?
I just cannot think like these people. I feel like they’re on a different planet from me. Taking a job running an agency you voted to abolish is just beyond my comprehension.
If the Keystone Cops and the Three Stooges had a baby and that baby went to Washington, it would be this mis-administration.
It would be mildly amusing to watch if we were not being forced to pay to produce this mega budget epic that could be filmed with a cell phone at any average dysfunctional family’s dinner table at meal time.
This department is a fricking joke. What exactly does Commerce do anyway? There are dozens of other federal departments and bureaus that duplicate its duties. Nothing more than a den of bureaucrats earning living high on the hog.
The Department of Commerce is used to transfer technology to our adversairies when The State Department won’t allow it to. We don’t have that conflict anymore.
And now he’s going to make it his job to lobby for Obama’s “stimulus” bill! Go to hell, Gregg.
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