Former Obama nominee turns top critic on budget

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Judd Gregg sounds particularly tough in ripping into President Barack Obama's proposed budget -- considering the Republican U.S. senator nearly joined Obama's Democratic administration last month.

"This budget ... represents a clear and present danger to the financial health of our country," Gregg said of Obama's $3.55 trillion spending blueprint.

"This plan spends too much, taxes too much, borrows too much," said Gregg, who first accepted and then rejected Obama's offer to be his commerce secretary.

Gregg was chosen as part of Obama's effort to break down partisan divisions in Washington, but he eventually said he had decided he could not fit in with Obama's largely liberal team.

Gregg issued his budget warnings when he gave the Republicans' weekly radio address on Saturday, and again in the past two days in the Democratic-led Senate, which is expected to approve the plan this week on a largely party-line vote.

"There isn't much we can do to stop it," Gregg said in an interview in his office, noting Democrats have the votes to defeat amendments and pass the bill with a simple majority.

"I don't think we can do much but expose it for what it is -- which is a massive expansion of debt, an unsustainable level of spending and a deficit-generating machine that will bankrupt the country," he said.

"Hopefully, we can build some public awareness at just which direction this government is taking us," Gregg said.