Gregg issued a statement from his office. He is the third nominee to drop out of President's Obama's cabinet before he was confirmed.
Gregg was caught between the White House and his own party on policies -- opposing the economic stimulus bill that the White House is pressing with the support of only three Senate Republicans. He also was fielding new criticism today over the looming Census, which will be critical to federal aid for states as well as congressional reapportionment.
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized the Obama administration today for hoping to move control of the 2010 Census from the Commerce Department to the White House.
"Yesterday . . . we wrote to President Obama urging him to reconsider a plan to hand over control of the 2010 Census to political operatives in the White House," Boehner said today. "This unprecedented move would undermine the goal of a fair and accurate Census count. And it would open the door to massive waste and abuse of taxpayer funds.
"The American people expect the Census to be fair, impartial and free of politics," he said. "And they expect us to protect the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars the government distributes each year based on Census data. If this process is controlled by political operatives at the White House instead of experts and statisticians at the Census Bureau, Americans are right to lose confidence in it.
"This is a time when we should be working together to eliminate government waste and protect every single taxpayer dollar," he said. "Politicizing the Census makes this impossible."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-gregg13-2009feb13,0,3949517.story
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One more headache for Barry. Oh well. Note: Holding true to your principles and turning down an offer for a key position of power is real character. I agree with Sen. Gregg's decision and applaud him on his conscientious decision.
