SEN. JUDD GREGG (R-NH)
Member
Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire, was elected to the Senate in 1992. Sen. Gregg is a member of four very powerful committees: Budget — where he is the Republican Ranking Member opposite Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND); Appropriations; Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs; and Health, Education, Labor & Pensions.
On the same day Gregg famously withdrew his name from nomination to be President Barack Obama’s Commerce Secretary, Gregg also announced he would retire after his current Senate term, which ends this year.
The fiscal commission was borne out of a proposal by Sen. Gregg and Senator Conrad. Under the Conrad-Gregg proposal the House and Senate would have been forced to vote on the commission’s recommendations. In the end, Senate leadership agreed to a commission created by executive order by President Obama – the commission would not have the power to compel Congress to vote on its recommendations. On Jan. 28, both Senators Gregg and Conrad voted against an amendment by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) that would have reflected the original, stronger, proposal.
According to Congressional Quarterly (password required), it was Sen. Gregg’s idea to require a majority of each party to agree on the commission’s recommendations. The commission, as outlined by the White House, requires 14 of the commission’s 18 members to agree on its recommendations.
On Fox News in February, Sen. Gregg warned: “[W]e need to address our deficits, we need to address our debt….I see that as probably the biggest threat we have as a nation, outside of a terrorist using a weapon of mass destruction against us — our impending fiscal bankruptcy.”
