Me and Judd in the Schoolyard

Sen. Judd Gregg has some sport with baby daddy Peter Orszag over the funding sources for parts of the Obama budget. Gregg turned fiery over Orszag's claim that $30 billion in TARP funds would be funneled to small business loans. Gregg Skewers OMB Chief Over TARP Funds

Gregg erupted as Orszag spoke of the TARP use to solve lingering problems with access to credit for small businesses.

"No! No! No!" he yelled out. "You can't make that type of statement with any legitimacy. You cannot make that statement."

Gregg then held up a guideline for the TARP, which he helped write in 2008 to keep the country from further economic collapse.

"This is the law," he said. "Let me tell you what the law says. Let me read to you again because you don't appear to understand the law. The law is very clear. The monies recouped from the TARP shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury for the reduction of the public debt. It's not for a piggy bank because you're concerned about lending to small businesses and you want to get a political event when you go out and make a speech in Nashua, N.H."

Remember the nine-day wonder of Judd Gregg's nomination for Obama's Commerce Secretary? That's seems a long time ago. No doubt, he was caught up in the "there are no red states or blue states" rhetoric, but wised up in time (Roy LaHood wasn't so lucky). Of course, bragging about your intimate knowledge with TARP based on authorship is not really something worth bragging about.