Congressional Black Caucus May Oppose Judd Gregg's Nomination to Commerce

UPDATE 2/12 - Gregg withdraws from Commerce post over census/Porkulus issues.

The Politico has this statement from Dem Rep. Barbara Lee (from Berkeley, CA of course), one of the wackiest left of the wacky left members of the House and the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus:

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus released the following statement today on the nomination of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to head the Commerce Department:

“The Department of Commerce has sweeping jurisdiction over a host of agencies charged with serving as business incubators. As Secretary, Sen. Gregg would play a vitally important role as the administration and Congress work to move our nation toward economic recovery.

“Two of the most important responsibilities of the Commerce Department are to ensure that minority-owned businesses are fully integrated in our nation’s economic recovery and to conduct the decennial census.

“In this light, Sen. Gregg’s record of previously voting to abolish the Commerce Department and his attempts to block President Bill Clinton’s efforts to secure adequate funding for the 2000 census raise troubling concerns regarding his commitment to the department’s core missions.

“As the Census Bureau prepares for another count in 2010 it is important to ensure the census is fully funded to guarantee a thorough and fair counting of all Americans.

“I trust that Sen. Gregg’s confirmation process will allow for the detailed examination of his past record and future commitment to the mission of the Commerce Department.”

In other words, that Republican Northeastern honky dude ain't gonna respect the hood.

I can understand somebody questioning Gregg because he had previously voted against the Commerce Department. But why fight him on the census?

That's Lee's way of playing the race card. The CBC believes there's some sort of GOP conspiracy to undercount blacks and prevent them from putting more crazy people in the House of Representatives. Not to worry, there will always be crazy people in the House.

Lee also overstates the importance of the Commerce Department. It makes no sense to have a cabinet level position and all those employees just to run a census every 10 years. It's also not their primary job to "incubate" minority businesses. Their primary job is...weather forecasting. The biggest part of the Commerce budget goes to support the National Weather Service.

Don't worry, Barbara, Gregg will still make sure the hood gets accurate weather forecasts.