On the recordDecember 14, 2010
through three terms in this chamber, Senator Judd Gregg has been a consistent, principled voice for responsible stewardship of the taxpayers' hard-earned money. Though he and I have not always agreed on the roles and responsibilities of government, that has not diminished my admiration for his principled stand on fiscal responsibility, a stand that has at times brought him into conflict with members from both parties. Senator Gregg has been willing to cross party lines on important issues throughout his tenure in the Senate. At times that has been the result of his belief in limiting deficits, as when he opposed the creation of the Medicare drug benefit in 2003 without identifying ways to pay for it. But he also supported last year the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He has voted to allow Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco. And he has voted to give U.S. workers a higher minimum wage. Still, Senator Gregg will rightly be remembered primarily for his advocacy of prudent spending. He consistently has pressed for a detailed, bipartisan effort to address the Nation's troubling fiscal situation. The bill he worked on with Senator Conrad ultimately became the model for the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. While the success of the commission is still unclear, it already is clear that Senator Gregg's efforts have helped move the discussion forward.





