Gregg nomination smart move?

Buzzflash New Analysis by Meg White

Congressional Quarterly reported yesterday that in his vote for the 1996 fiscal budget resolution, Gregg approved of getting rid of the U.S. Commerce Department entirely. He also fought President Bill Clinton's increase in the department's budget in preparation for carrying out the 2000 Census. The article goes on to note that "Gregg's commitment to basic functions of the department has been questioned."
Aside from suggesting the department disappear entirely, Gregg seems to see the pain of CEOs before that of the American worker. In a 2007 Senate hearing featuring Microsoft Chair Bill Gates, Gregg suggested we raise the cap on the number of H-1B visas granted to workers allowed to come into the country to work for American companies such as Microsoft. Gregg either ignored or was unaware of the abuses common with this practice, where companies bring skilled workers from other countries to do Americans' tech work for lesser wages.
After Microsoft's recent layoff announcement, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent the company a letter urging layoffs begin with foreign workers hired under the H-1B program to spare American jobs. No word yet on what Gregg thinks about these visas under the threat of a growing domestic unemployment rate, but perhaps someone will ask him about it in his confirmation hearing.
There are countless stories of American workers being forced to train their own foreign replacements in cost-cutting procedures by companies, such as this one about Pfizer. Furthermore, a recent report from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services indicates that 13 percent of H-1Bs are fraudulent, and one-fifth of applications were found to be filed in one form of violation or another.
How close is support for H-1B expansion to support for offshoring our economy? I don't know. I'm not an economist. But neither is Gregg. (He's a tax lawyer. Is that supposed to inspire confidence?) I just hope his congressional colleagues aren't too blinded by bipartisan warm fuzzies to ask difficult questions such as that one in the confirmation process.
While David Rogers recently described Gregg on Politico.com as having become increasingly independent over the years, in the same breath, he calls the veteran senator a fiscal conservative.
And the post to which Gregg has been nominated is undeniably fiscal in nature. As commerce secretary, Gregg would control a wide swath of our economy both domestically and overseas. Reaching across the aisle is one thing, but putting a conservative such as Gregg in charge of a commercial system that is in a moment of crisis, and on the precipice of great change, seems like the wrong move.