Budget: Gregg No Likey.

As Commerce Sec., Sen. Judd Gregg might have been tasked with selling provisions of what he's now calling a "missed  opportunity."  But really. What did he expect? What did anyone expect? Obama campaigned on this budget. Still, the New Hampshire senator's comments are a bit searing:

"Unfortunately, this budget plan is once again a missed opportunity for American taxpayers - it raises taxes on all Americans, implements massive new spending, and fails to make any tough choices to control the deficit and long-term fiscal crisis posed by the huge entitlement programs.

More after the jump.

From Sen. Judd Gregg:

"The $2 trillion in savings touted by the President is a hollow number based on tax increases and reduced war funding. Where is the spending restraint? Instead, government spending continues to grow and expand, while the economy continues to suffer.

"The budget outline shows a half-hearted attempt to reduce the trillion-dollar deficits we face, largely through more tax hikes that will only hurt the economy, when it should take this opportunity to exercise aggressive spending restraint and get the deficit back under control. A $533 billion deficit in 2013 is not much of an accomplishment; that number should be a lot lower. And while the deficit decreases to $533 billion with no effort, the public debt actually doubles.

"A $1.4 trillion tax hike is not the solution to our economic woes, especially at a time when American families and businesses can least afford to give more of their earnings to the government. This will hit seniors already grappling with the realities of shrinking savings, and small businesses struggling to stay afloat. These businesses are the economic engine of growth and the source of job creation. And the energy tax, which will hit all consumers regardless of income, is being used as a budgetary piggybank to fund more