Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, scion of a prominent New Hampshire political family, objects to the Obama budget. Strikingly, although he maintains that he is a small-government advocate, he voted with the Bush Administration through the 8 years of unprecedented growth and an addition of over $5 trillion to the national debt.
He is a lifelong politician, never–so far as we can determine–having done anything to earn a paycheck from any organization that did not use taxpayer funds. The plan will bankrupt us, he pretends. While it is indeed a huge budget, more than half of it was caused by the problems created by the Bush Administration. The remaining $2 trillion is the long-overdue investment in the people of this country…roads, schools, energy efficiency, reasonably priced healthcare that Senator “Dud” Gregg and his fellow duds in the Republican Party saw fit to ignore. They did not ignore their rich friends and corporate sponsors. And they left the rest of us holding the bag.
But the way, he suggests we might correct this is quite interesting. He says that we must not make the $600 billion investment in health care so that health care costs can be brought under control and offered at reasonable rates to all citizens. It makes one wonder if the more than $209,000 he received from Blue Cross/Blue Shield might have influenced him. Or the $203,000 from the insurance industry since 2003. Or, gosh, maybe even the $203,000 from health professionals or the $200,000 from the pharmaceutical companies.
See, Senator Gregg is called a “moderate” even though he has voted against health care issues for the populace most of the time. I guess it could simply be a coincidence. He’s from an old line New England family, attended Exeter/Phillips Acadamy, as did his father before him. His father was the governor of New Hampshire before Judd graciously accepted that position when it was “his turn.” Good old Dud, er, Judd. Just an old Yankee establishment figure. Or is he?
Maybe not so moderate as he would want you to think. He voted against the SCHIPS bill expanding health care options for low income kids. Nice. He voted to prevent awards to those winning malpractice suits above $250,000. He voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate better prescription prices. He voted against the Lilly Ledbetter act and against the increase in the minimum wage. He has voted for all the Bush tax cuts. He voted for the war and against ending the war. He votes for guns and against unions. He gets a zero from most unions as a person voting to support labor.
Both the American Bar Association and the National Education Association give him their worst rating. He voted for tax subsidies for companies that move jobs off shore. He’s 100% popular with the Christian Coalition and 92% popular with the Cato Institute. So if Judd Gregg is not a Conservative, I don’t know who is. Consequently, his comments on the Obama Budget bankrupting the country somehow fall on deaf ears.