CONSCIENCE OF THE SENATE - AT 5:35 P.M. ET:  Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire is rapidly becoming the conscience of the U.S. Senate.  Gregg, who was tapped by President Obama to be commerce secretary, declined the post because he couldn't go along with Obama's policies.  Now he's warning the nation of the consequences of those policies.  From The Hill:

The United States wouldn't even be eligible to enter the European Union if it wanted to because of its debt levels, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) claimed Thursday.

"We won't even be able to get into the EU if we wanted to," Gregg said this morning on MSNBC, "because our government is so large and so huge."

The European Union's Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) adopted in 1997 requires a budget deficit to be less than three percent, and requires a national debt beneath 60 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"We've been lectured by France on the fact that we're not fiscally responsible right now," Gregg, the would-be commerce secretary, noted with incredulity.

COMMENT:  Because of changes in New Hampshire's demographics, Gregg could probably not be reelected.  He would be an enormous loss to the Senate.

March 26, 2009