Gregg Bows Out As Commece Secretary, Citing Stimulus

Congress has not yet approved the final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and already the legislation has stimulated Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) to reconsider joining Barack Obama's Cabinet as commerce secretary:

It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me.  Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns.  We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.

The census-related issue to which Gregg refers is Obama's decision to have the director of the Census Bureau report directly to the White House. Gregg's statement is here. His decision earned him a Least-Objectionable Legislator Award from the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Wayne Crews.

My first and last post on Gregg running the Commerce Department is here.