> First questions for the new secretary-designate: "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,"
> CQ's Jonathan Allen reports. "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."
This could also be a challenge to Gregg. Once past the confirmations hearings and votes, will he sabotage or scale back the Commerce Department from the inside? If diminishing the CD is a publicly unspoken goal of the Executive Department, who would benefit in the short term? In the long term? Is there a bellwether test for Obama or Gregg? Wouldn't Gregg be Obama's (or Podesta's) bellwether?
Percy