CENSUS NOMINEE CLEARS FIRST SENATE HURDLE
Plus: Legislation promotes more data on Caribbean ethnicities; House
Republicans target Sampling in the census; and more.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held
a confirmation hearing on May 15 to review the nomination of Dr. Robert
Groves to be director of the U.S. Census Bureau. The committee will
vote on the nomination on May 20 (9:30 a.m., 342 Dirksen Senate Office
Building). Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) must decide whether to
schedule a Senate vote before the Memorial Day congressional recess
starts at week’s end.
Senator Carl Levin (D) of Michigan, where Dr. Groves currently heads the
University of Michigan’s Survey Research Center, Institute for Social
Research, and is a sociology professor, introduced the nominee, noting
that seven former Census directors, who served in both Democratic and
Republican Administrations, strongly endorsed President Obama’s choice
to head the agency.
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), who chaired the hearing as head of the census
oversight subcommittee, called the decennial census a “daunting task”
that required the Census Bureau, after a decade of preparation, to
conduct the enumeration with “lightening execution in real time without
any flaws.” For 2010, the chairman said, population growth and
increased diversity continue to challenge the Census Bureau, while costs
continue to escalate. Pointing to an estimated cost per housing unit
of $100 for the 2010 census, compared to about $56 in 2000, the senator
said additional spending “must improve the quality of the data.” He
also cited “under-funding” during the previous Administration for
outreach to minorities and a “colossal failure” of the IT contract for
GPS-equipped handheld computers for field data collection, as additional
challenges. Sen. Carper described Dr. Groves as “up to the challenge”
and “well prepared” to be Census director.
In opening remarks, Dr. Groves called his nomination a “singular honor.”
He highlighted the importance of a “professional, objective,
non-partisan Census Bureau,” saying that the “credibility and accuracy”
of federal statistics is paramount and that he would be “transparent to
the many stakeholders of the census.” Dr. Groves also addressed up
front the concerns of House Republicans that he would advocate for a
statistical adjustment of the 2010 census. He agreed with Secretary of
Commerce Gary Locke, the nominee said, that adjustment has been
“eliminated as an option for reapportionment and will not be used for
redistricting,” referring to a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a
provision of the Census Act (Title 13, U.S.C. §195) prohibits the use of
“sampling” to compile the state population figures used for
congressional apportionment. Dr. Groves went on to suggest that
Congress has “demanded innovation” in census-taking and that the Census
Bureau should “constantly search for ways to improve the way we collect
data” and discuss those ideas with Congress.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the committee’s ranking member, was the only
Republican to attend the hearing. She asked the nominee to discuss how
he would “ensure that the 2010 decennial census is free from political
influence from either side of the aisle.” Dr. Groves said that
“transparency” and “doing one’s work in an open environment,” as well as
continued dialogue with stakeholders, were the best ways to counter the
possibility of inappropriate political interference in Census Bureau
activities. He also suggested that the Census director must speak out
against improper partisan influence and said, in response to a question
from Sen. Collins, that he would resign if he were unable to prevent
such influence and would then work actively from outside the government
to stop political abuses in the statistical system.
Sen. Collins asked Dr. Groves if he would advocate for a statistical
adjustment of the 2010 census; the nominee said he would not. After
noting that it is “impractical” to consider an adjustment for the 2010
census, because the Census Bureau has not prepared for it, the senator
asked about the possibility of using the methodology in 2020. “I have no
plans to do that for 2020,” Dr. Groves answered.
Sen. Collins final question concerned the management of information
technology contracts at the Census Bureau. Dr. Groves described the
challenge as both a “research and development” and “management”
function, requiring detailed user involvement in development of IT
systems from beginning to end, as well as constant, close oversight of
large contracts by top agency officials, who he said must understand the
details as well as the “big picture.” Sen. Collins told Dr. Groves that
she was “satisfied” with his answers on all three issues she had raised.
Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), the only other senator to attend the hearing,
said he was “very impressed” with the nominee, who he called “well
qualified to provide leadership” at the Census Bureau. The long-time
member of the Senate’s census oversight subcommittee emphasized the
importance of staffing issues, saying the Census Bureau must make it a
priority to “invest in its workforce in order to meet its mission.”
Sen. Akaka noted that 25 percent of career Census Bureau employees are
eligible to retire next year and also expressed concern about a lack of
diversity in the Census Bureau workforce. Dr. Groves said he was
“terribly worried” about this “large problem,” which he said could not
be “solved with the current pipeline of students [with American
citizenship]” studying quantitative sciences in college. He suggested
that the federal government must review legal status requirements for
some scientific-agency positions and advocated “partnerships” between
federal statistical agencies and universities, to help steer more
students into career paths that would help the government meet its
recruitment needs. Dr. Groves assured Sen. Akaka that “the will is
here” to increase diversity in hiring at the Census Bureau.
Other topics covered at the confirmation hearing included reasons for
the census undercount and overcount, and ways the Census Bureau can
motivate historically hard-to-count population groups to participate in
the count. Dr. Groves cited long-standing factors associated with a
greater likelihood of being missed in the census, such as tenuous or
ambiguous ties to a single household among some young men, isolation
from the larger society, mobility (of children) due to divorce, limited
English proficiency, and more recently, economic distress that has led
families to double-up in one housing unit. He said personal visits to
households that do not mail back a census form, as well as “tailored
methods [of communication]” to build confidence among diverse population
groups, were key to reducing the undercount. “The solutions are not
simple,” Dr. Groves acknowledged.
Dr. Groves discussed the role of research at the Census Bureau, noting
that current methods for measuring business activities and population
characteristics would not continue to work successfully into the future.
“Innovation is needed” and “can pay for itself” through efficiencies
in data collection, the nominee told lawmakers. The private sector may
spearhead some future innovations, Dr. Groves said, pointing to a
“vibrant research and development environment” outside of the Census Bureau.
Sen. Carper also asked about the importance and quality of the planned
accuracy-check survey – called the Census Coverage Measurement, or CCM,
survey – now that a statistical adjustment of the 2010 census was “off
the table.” Dr. Groves said that federal statistical agencies have an
obligation to produce the best data possible and then to “tell the
public how bad those are and how good those [estimates] are.” He
advocated funding the CCM program at a level that allows the Census
Bureau to produce reliable estimates of census coverage.
As the hearing concluded, Chairman Carper asked the nominee what
Congress should be doing as the 2010 census approached. Describing the
2010 census plan as “fixed,” Dr. Groves said that any major changes now
to the design were risky. The nominee said he plans to quickly
establish a “risk assessment study” that would call on expertise from
both within and outside the Census Bureau, and that the Census director
must make “calm, fast, and flexible decisions” when problems arise
during the actual count.
House Republicans react to Groves’ testimony: House Republican Leader
John Boehner (R-OH) issued a statement on Friday, saying that while he
appreciated Dr. Groves’ assurances that the Census Bureau would not
statistically adjust the 2010 census to correct undercounts and
overcounts, “our concerns about the Census potentially being tainted by
political influence remain.” Rep. Boehner also objected to the
“partnership” agreement between the Census Bureau and the Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a non-profit grassroots
organization that advocates for low- and moderate-income people. (See
March 22 Census News Brief for more information on Republican concerns
about ACORN.) ACORN is one of thousands of state and local
organizations that have signed up to be 2010 census “partners,” which
help recruit census workers and provide space for testing and training
temporary employees, distribute census materials, and sponsor community
events to promote the census. 140,000 organizations participated in the
Census 2000 partnership program. The Minority Leader called on Dr.
Groves to “sever all ties” with ACORN, which he described as “an
organization rife with internal corruption and that was responsible for
multiple instances of vote fraud in the 2008 presidential election.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), senior Republican on the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee, praised Dr. Groves after the confirmation
hearing. “I share Mr. Groves’ commitment to a nonpartisan Census Bureau
and commend him for acknowledging that the Census is a constitutional
responsibility and function of the Congress,” Rep. Issa said in a
written statement. In his opening remarks at the hearing, Dr. Groves
noted the role of all three branches of government in the census.
Article I, section 2 of the Constitution requires a census every ten
years “in such Manner as they [Congress] shall by Law direct,” Dr.
Groves said, and Congress has delegated the authority for taking the
census to the Executive Branch (Title 13, U.S.C.). The Judicial Branch
has weighed in, he said, by ruling that the Census Act prohibits the use
of sampling methods for congressional apportionment.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), ranking member on the House census
oversight subcommittee, also issued a press statement “commend[ing] Dr.
Groves for his well-articulated understanding of the consequences of
partisan meddling in the census,” referring to Dr. Groves’ statements
that the Census Bureau would not statistically adjust the 2010 census.
Rep. McHenry also warned the Census Bureau not to hire census takers
from “the ranks of ACORN, an organization skilled at committing fraud
with government forms.”
Republican staff of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee
released a report prior to the confirmation hearing, entitled, “Census
History: Counting Every Person Once, Only Once, and in the Right Place.”
The report (available at
http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/media/pdfs/20090511Censusreport.pdf)
“details the results of a historical analysis of attempted political
manipulation of the Census spanning a timeline from before the U.S.
Constitution was ratified to the present.” Referring to “the latest
attempt by the White House to politicize the Census,” the staff
concluded that, “political manipulation of the Census or within the
Census Bureau has been consistently rejected throughout the course of
American history.” They also noted that the Constitution “delegates the
Executive Branch and President no role in conducting the Census except
for how Congress, ‘shall by Law direct’.” Article 1, section 6, of the
Constitution provides that a bill may not become law unless signed by
the President or unless approved over the President’s objection by
two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and Senate, unless the
President does not take any action within ten days of receiving the bill
and Congress is still in session.
Lawmakers propose more detailed data on Caribbean Americans: Two bills
pending in the House of Representatives would require the Census Bureau
to collect data on Caribbean ethnicities in the decennial census.
In March, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) introduced H.R. 1504, to require
the Census Bureau to collect data on Dominican Americans in the
decennial census using a check box or similar response option. The 2010
census questionnaire will offer respondents of Hispanic origin the
opportunity to check boxes indicating Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or
“another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin” descent. Respondents
checking the latter box may write-in their ethnicity. The race question
includes check boxes for “White,” “Black, African American, or Negro,”
nine Asian and Pacific Islander subgroups (as well as write-in boxes for
“other” Asian or Pacific Islander subgroups), “American Indian or Alaska
Native” (with a write-in box for enrolled or principal tribe), and “Some
other race” (with a write-in box).
Rep. Yvette Clark (D-NY), herself a Caribbean American, introduced
similar legislation (H.R. 2071) in April that would require a check box
on the census form for respondents of “Caribbean extraction or descent.”
Both bills are pending before the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, which has not yet scheduled hearings on the measures.
Latino leaders continue to urge census participation: One of the
nation’s leading Spanish-language newspapers, La Opinion, urged a
coalition of Latino evangelical clergy to end their proposed boycott of
the 2010 census, calling the strategy “a dangerous mistake” and
“verg[ing] on political suicide” in a May 12th editorial. The newspaper
said the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders’
(CONLAMIC) suggestion that undocumented immigrants not participate in
the census until Congress and the Administration adopt comprehensive
immigration reform was a “grave mistake.” “It is ironic that at the
same time CONLAMIC is promoting non-participation in the census, there
are conservative groups that want to exclude the undocumented from the
count. The two groups’ intentions are diametrically opposed, but the
result of creating a ghost population is the same,” the editors wrote.
The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which according
to its web site serves “the 16 million Hispanic born-again Christians in
the United States and Puerto Rico … on issues that pertain to the
family, immigration, economic mobility, education, political
empowerment, social justice, and societal transformation,” also urged
all Latinos living in the United States to be counted in 2010.
Conference president Rev. Samuel Rodriguez told the Press-Enterprise
(Riverside, CA; May 9, 2009) that CONLAMIC’s boycott effort would “cause
more trepidation in a community that was already naturally hesitant to
participate in the census.”
Meanwhile, CONLAMIC reported that the board of the Latino Leadership
Alliance of New Jersey voted to support the Coalition’s appeal to
undocumented immigrants to avoid the census. LLANJ was formed in 1999
to “guide our Latino communities to develop statewide initiatives for
the benefit of all,” according to its web site. Information about its
position on a census boycott was not available on the LLANJ web site.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census. All views expressed in
the News Briefs are solely those of the author. Please direct questions
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a
consultant to the nonpartisan Census Project, organized by the
Communications Consortium Media Center in Washington, DC. Previous
Census News Briefs are posted at www.thecensusproject.org.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA Resource Center
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
CENSUS NOMINEE PREPARES FOR CONFIRMATION HEARING
Plus: 2010 Advisory Panel Meets
As Dr. Robert Groves, President Obama’s nominee to head the Census
Bureau, prepares for his Senate confirmation hearing, critics are
seeking assurances that “statistical adjustment of the 2010 Census will
not occur under his leadership,” according to a press statement by Rep.
Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Ranking Member on the House census oversight
subcommittee. The hearing, originally scheduled for tomorrow, has been
rescheduled for Friday, May 15, at 9:30 AM.
Rep. McHenry offered the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs, which will hold the confirmation hearing, four
questions to ask Dr. Groves, who served as a Census Bureau Associate
Director (a career position) during the 1990 count. The congressman
suggested that the nominee’s support for a statistical adjustment of
that census – as a member of a nine-member expert panel appointed by
Census Director Barbara Everitt Bryant – amounted to “political
tampering [that was] well-documented and rightly rejected.” The expert
panel supported, 7 – 2, using the results of an independent
quality-check survey to adjust the 1990 population numbers to correct
undercounts and overcounts; Dr. Bryant agreed with the recommendation,
but Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher rejected it. Rep. McHenry said
the President’s choice of Dr. Groves to head the Census Bureau “raises
fresh concerns about the White House’s desire to manipulate Census data
for partisan advantage.”
Rep. McHenry’s description of statistical adjustment as a partisan
effort to manipulate the population count is at odds with the position
of many Republicans following the 1990 census, when Secretary Mosbacher
was considering whether to accept the Census Bureau’s proposal to adjust
the raw census numbers, and later when the newly-elected Clinton
Administration faced legal challenges to the Secretary’s anti-adjustment
decision.
Before the Secretary rejected Dr. Bryant’s statistical adjustment
recommendation in July 1991, then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) urged the
Commerce chief in an April 30, 1991 letter to statistically adjust
“Georgia’s population figures to reflect the correct population,” saying
the estimated state undercount of over 200,000 people might entitle
Georgia to another seat in Congress and would “seriously dilut[e]”
minority voting strength in the state. Last month on a National Public
Radio All Things Considered program on the census (April 20, 2009), the
former House Speaker said Republicans “are very worried …that somebody
will try to apply some kind of abstract, theoretical, statistical model,
which will totally distort the system.” Mr. Gingrich called the idea of
using “statistical sampling” to account for people missed in the census
“pretty whacked” and said he believed the Obama Administration would
“try to use a statistical analysis to rig the game” after the census is
finished.
Other Republican proponents of statistically adjusting the 1990 census
included Sen. Lauch Faircloth (R-NC), Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), Sen.
Connie Mack (R-FL), Sen. John Warner (R-VA), and Sen. Thad Cochran
(R-MS), now the Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In an August 18, 1994 letter to President Clinton, 32 members of the
Congressional Sunbelt Caucus from both political parties urged the
Administration not to appeal a Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling
overturning Secretary Mosbacher’s decision not to adjust the 1990 count.
(The U.S. Supreme Court later upheld the Secretary’s decision, saying
it was not “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative
Procedures Act.) The Sunbelt Caucus members wrote, “Failure to adjust
the census count meant denying the existence of 4 million people. It
also has meant that federal funds did not follow the significant
population shifts of the 1980s.” The lawmakers concluded by saying,
“The inclusion of the undercount numbers will finally make accuracy in
the 1990 Census possible. The adjusted census numbers guarantee that
states, cities and counties will finally receive their fair share.”
Rep. McHenry urged senators to ask Dr. Groves how he would respond to
White House efforts “to exert political influence” over the census
process, whether he will reject the possibility of adjusting the 2010
census “under any circumstances,” and why the nonprofit community
organization ACORN should be a 2010 census “partner,” in light of “its
pattern of criminal misconduct.” The Associated Press reported last
week (May 7, 2009) that Dr. Groves, in written responses to traditional
pre-hearing questions, told the Senate oversight committee that, “If the
director is perceived to be a pawn of one or another political
ideological perspective, the credibility of the statistical system is
threatened.” The nominee said he would resign if faced with partisan
interference from the White House, according to the AP article.
2010 advisory committee holds Spring meeting: The 2010 Census Advisory
Committee (CAC) held its bi-annual meeting at Census Bureau
headquarters, covering a wide range of topics, including the status of
2010 census preparations and early field work, the Communications
Campaign, and the American Community Survey. The committee, led by its
newly appointed chairman and National Urban League President Marc
Morial, heard presentations from agency staff on the progress of address
canvassing and the 2010 Census Partnership Program, as well as plans for
following-up by telephone with households whose forms indicate that
people might have been left off the form or included by mistake
(Coverage Follow Up operation) and for measuring the accuracy of the
census through an independent quality-check survey (Census Coverage
Measurement program).
Acting Census Director Thomas Mesenbourg reported that the handheld
computers being used to verify addresses on the master list were
“performing exceptionally well.” Associate Director for Decennial
Census Arnold Jackson said that the Census Bureau has been able to hire
a “higher quality workforce” than expected; Associate Director for Field
Operations Marilia Matos added that the agency had exceeded its
recruitment goals for the address listing operation, which will end in
July. There are 150 Local Census Offices (LCOs) involved in field
activities across the country this spring; the Census Bureau is
completing leases for the remaining 344 LCOs, which will open in the
fall. Next year, the bureau will recruit 3.8 million people to fill
about 1.4 million temporary positions to conduct the census.
Draftfcb, the prime contractor for the 2010 Census Communications
Campaign – which includes paid advertising, outreach, and Census in the
Schools – discussed its “creative” materials for paid advertisements,
which recently came under criticism from the bureau’s Joint Advertising
Advisory Review Panel and five Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees.
Company representatives said they must begin to produce advertisements
by August 1 in order to begin airing ads in January 2010. Mr.
Mesenbourg said he was “confident” the 2010 census advertising campaign
would be effective and noted that “it is still early in the process” of
developing the campaign.
The 2010 CAC unanimously recommended that the Census Bureau reconsider
its decision to re-code as “unmarried partners,” responses to the
“relationship question” that indicate a gay married couple. (See March
29 Census News Brief for more information on this issue.) Last month,
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine
Quinn wrote to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, urging the Census Bureau
to report data on same-sex married couple responses in the 2010 census,
as it would for all people who report they are married. The mayor and
council chief said they were concerned that the current tabulation plans
“could discourage [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] New Yorkers
from fully participating in census efforts.”
The advisory committee also expressed concern about the decision not to
include messages on the “advance letter” in languages other than
English, a change from Census 2000, when the letter sent to all
households in advance of the arrival of census forms included
information in several languages (and a toll-free number) about the
availability of in-language questionnaires. The Census Bureau said the
2000 census procedure resulted in some households receiving and mailing
back questionnaires in English and another language, and that it
received only 100,000 telephone requests for an in-language form as a
result of the advance letter, a number it said did not justify the
resulting operational difficulties. Census Bureau officials said they
would rely instead on partner organizations and advertising to spread
the word about language assistance to limited-English proficiency
households.
Did You Know? For the average person, the decennial census (if they’ve
thought about it at all) can elicit a yawn – nothing much exciting to
consider. Knowledgeable census stakeholders know better: The census is
one of the nation’s most vital civic activities, important enough to be
mentioned in the second section of Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
There are many fascinating facts about the census; sharing them with
other stakeholders might help increase interest in the census and
mobilize more people to participate. So we will start a new occasional
Census News Brief feature, to share less-widely-known information that
will help census stakeholders better understand census history and the
daunting task facing the Census Bureau’s dedicated, experienced staff.
In the 2010 census, for the first time, the Census Bureau has a specific
plan to contact traveling carnivals, circuses, and fairs, to determine
where they will be on Census Day and to make arrangements to distribute
census forms to their employees. Traveling workers will be allowed to
designate their “usual place of residence;” those who don’t will be
counted as residents of the city in which their show or event is
stationed on Census Day. Who knew?
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census. All views expressed in
the News Briefs are solely those of the author. Please direct questions
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a
consultant to the nonpartisan Census Project, organized by the
Communications Consortium Media Center in Washington, DC. Previous
Census News Briefs are posted at www.thecensusproject.org.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA Resource Center
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
May 7, 2009
PRESIDENT RELEASES DETAILED 2010 BUDGET REQUEST
President Obama sent his detailed Fiscal Year 2010 (FY2010) budget
proposal to Congress today, continuing the process for funding federal
programs starting October 1, 2009. The budget seeks $7.375 billion for
the U.S. Census Bureau, more than twice this year’s appropriation of
$3.14 billion.
The projected “life cycle” cost of the 2010 census is $13.7 – 14.5
billion; an additional $1 billion allocated in the “stimulus bill” will
increase that figure. Historically, about half of the total census cost
is spent in the census year alone. Congress has asked the Census Bureau
for an updated cost estimate.
2010 census: The Administration requested about $6.97 billion in new
budget authority for the 2010 census, well more than double the FY2009
allocation of $2.7 billion. In 2010, the Census Bureau will:
• open and staff remaining Local Census Offices (for a total of almost 500);
• recruit 3.8 million and hire 1.4 million temporary employees to
conduct the census;
• finalize data capture, data processing, and telecommunications systems;
• print 140+ million census questionnaires and other materials (e.g.
advance letter);
• launch a national advertising campaign;
• hire additional national and regional staff to oversee field operations;
• collect census information from every residential housing unit and
group quarters in the country, using the mail, telephone, and
door-to-door visits; and
• conduct an accuracy-check survey (Census Coverage Measurement).
The Census Bureau expects to spend roughly $7.8 billion on the decennial
census in FY2010, once funds carried over from 2009 – including much of
the stimulus money-- are added to the requested amount. Some decennial
census activities, including final tabulation of population and housing
unit totals, occur in Fiscal Year 2011, which starts October 1, 2010.
The American Community Survey (ACS) will continue nationwide, as this
replacement for the traditional census long form moves closer to
providing the first demographic, economic, and housing characteristics
data for areas as small as census tracts and block groups in 2010, based
on five years worth of data collection (2005 – 2009). The budget
proposes reinstating the Community Address Updating System (CAUS), which
was developed early in the ACS implementation cycle to help the Census
Bureau maintain an updated address list throughout the decade in rural
and remote areas, where housing units may not have traditional
city-style addresses.
Funding for the decennial census is part of the Periodic Censuses and
Programs (“Periodics”) account, one of two main funding categories for
the Census Bureau. The President’s budget seeks $7.116 billion for
Periodics in FY2010, an increase of $4.2 billion over the FY2009 $2.91
billion allocation. The Periodics account covers activities related to
the census, intercensal population estimates, and other cyclical
programs such as the Economic Census and Census of Governments.
Economic statistics: The second main funding category for the Census
Bureau is Salaries and Expenses (S & E). The S & E account covers
ongoing surveys, including the Survey of Income and Program
Participation (SIPP) and Quarterly Financial Surveys, to collect
important demographic, economic, and social data. The budget proposes
$259 million for Salaries and Expenses, an increase of $25.4 million
over this year’s funding level of $233.6 million for discretionary
programs. (The S & E request also includes $30 million in mandatory
spending for surveys on income and health insurance required by federal
law.) The Administration’s S & E request includes a new initiative to
expand the Local Employment Dynamics Program, which develops information
about local labor market conditions.
In 2010, the Census Bureau will publish data from the 2007 Economic
Census. The data is collected in 2008, reflecting 2007 activities and
information. The President requested $112 million for the Economic
Census, a decrease of $5 million from 2009, to publish all remaining
data from the survey and begin planning for the next one. The Economic
Census, funded through the Periodics account, covers the manufacturing,
mining, retail and wholesale trade service, construction, and
transportation industries. Along with the Census of Governments, it is
taken every five years, in years ending in “2” and “7.” 2010 is the
last year of the six-year 2007 Economic Census cycle and the first year
of the 2012 Economic Census cycle.
Bureau of Economic Analysis: The Census Bureau is one of two
statistical agencies under the Commerce Department’s Economic and
Statistics Administration (ESA). The second agency, the Bureau of
Economic Analysis (BEA), produces key economic statistics, including
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), that support U.S. monetary and fiscal
policies, trade negotiations, business planning, and personal savings
and investment decisions. The President asked for $105 million for BEA
and ESA in FY2010, roughly $14 million more than the FY2009 $90.6
million funding level. The Administration is proposing four initiatives
“to significantly improve BEA’s measurement of the U.S. economy,”
covering the service sector, new and expanded components of GDP,
county-level personal income, and foreign direct investment.
Editor’s note: This Census News Brief is based on information released
this morning about the President’s budget request. We will keep
stakeholders informed and refine this information as more becomes
available in the coming days.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census. All views expressed in
the News Briefs are solely those of the author. Please direct questions
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations. Ms. Lowenthal is a
consultant to the nonpartisan Census Project, organized by the
Communications Consortium Media Center in Washington, DC. Previous
Census News Briefs are posted at www.thecensusproject.org.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
I will be out of the office starting 04/30/2009 and will not return until 05/06/2009.
I am out of the office indefinitely at this time. Please contact Janette Lawson ext. 6855 or Kathleen Thompson ext. 6841for assistance.
May 5, 2009
CENSUS NEWS ROUND-UP
On May 7, the President is expected to release his detailed budget
request for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins October 1, 2009 and includes
funding for final census preparations such as staffing all Local Census
Offices (LCOs), launch of the 2010 census advertising campaign, and
implementation of the census through mailed and hand-delivered
questionnaires and follow-up visits to unresponsive households.
Look for a Census News Brief outlining the detailed request later this
week. Also high on the radar screen for census stakeholders: The Senate
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a
hearing on May 12 (2:30 PM) to consider the nomination of Dr. Robert
Groves to be director of the U.S. Census Bureau. (See April 2, 2009
Census News Briefs for more information on the nominee and reaction to
the selection.)
In the meantime, here’s a round-up of other recent 2010 census news:
Obama Administration appointments continue: The Obama Administration
has appointed William A. Ramos, Washington Office Director of the
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)
Educational Fund, to be the Commerce Department’s Director of
Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Ramos served as NALEO’s alternate
representative to the 2010 Census Advisory Committee (CAC). In a
congratulatory statement, NALEO noted that Mr. Ramos’ new duties are
“particularly critical for the success of Census 2010 outreach efforts,
which must involve effective partnerships between the Census Bureau and
state and local governments.” The position does not require Senate
confirmation.
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke has selected National Urban League
President and CEO Marc H. Morial to be the new chairman of the Census
Bureau’s 2010 Census Advisory Committee. The former two-term New
Orleans mayor became head of the Urban League, a civil rights and direct
services organization serving African Americans and other ethnic
communities, in 2003. Mr. Morial is also a former president of the U.S.
Conference of Mayors.
The 2010 CAC (previously called the Decennial Census Advisory
Committee), one of seven official Census Bureau advisory committees, was
established in 1991 and rechartered every two years thereafter. The
panel, comprised of organizations representing a broad cross-section of
census data users, advises the Commerce Secretary and Census Director on
issues such as census design and data products and dissemination. Its
spring meeting will take place at Census Bureau headquarters on May 7-8,
2009.
Current 2010 CAC Chairman A. Mark Neuman and Vice Chairman Pastor Lee
Adams, Jr. will step down from their posts; both were appointed during
the Bush Administration. It has been traditional for a new
Administration to appoint its own candidates to the 2010 CAC’s two top
posts.
Catholic Bishops urge census participation: The U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, through its Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the
Church, has become an official 2010 census partner and is urging its
25,000 parishes and missions to encourage census participation.
Archbishop José Gomez of San Antonio noted that, “some of the
populations we serve tend to normally be undercounted;” other Conference
officials cited the importance of an accurate count to the fair
allocation of resources and political representation. In contrast to a
call by some Latino evangelical clergy for undocumented immigrants to
boycott the census (see April 29 Census News Brief), Alejandro Aguilera,
the Secretariat’s assistant director for Hispanic Affaires, said in a
statement, “We urge Hispanics/Latinos to make sure they are counted.”
Legislative update: Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Senate
subcommittee that oversees the Census Bureau, has indicated his support
for changing the Census director’s term of service to a five-year fixed
term. At an April 30 subcommittee hearing on federal technology
management, Chairman Carper said that the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee (of which his panel is a part) is likely
to consider legislation giving the Census Director a fixed term, similar
to terms for the Internal Revenue Service and Bureau of Labor Statistics
commissioners, and National Science Foundation and National Institutes
of Health directors, among others. He suggested that frequent turnover
at the top of federal agencies “feeds the lack of oversight and
supervision” of information technology projects.
The Census Bureau’s Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) contract, to
provide GPS-equipped handheld computers for census field work and to
control the data collection operating system, was revised substantially
in 2008 after tests of the handheld devices failed to meet expectations.
The five-year Director’s term proposal is included in a bill Rep.
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced earlier this year (H.R. 1254), to
establish the Census Bureau as an independent federal agency.
The Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government
Information, Federal Services, and International Security, which Sen.
Carper chairs, will hold a field hearing in Philadelphia to review
efforts to “avoid chronic undercounting” in the 2010 census. The panel
noted in a press release that Philadelphia’s 2000 census mail response
rate was 56 percent, compared to a national rate of 67 percent. At the
hearing, entitled “Making the Census Count in Urban America,” the
subcommittee will explore outreach strategies and challenges to
achieving an accurate census in hard-to-count communities.
The hearing will be held on May 11, at 1:00 PM in the National
Constitution Center, Kirby Auditorium. Witnesses will include Acting
Census Director Thomas Mesenbourg; the mayors of Philadelphia and
Wilmington, Delaware; Pat Coulter, executive director, Philadelphia
Urban League; and representatives of Pennsylvania and Delaware’s state
advisory panels on Latino affairs.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census. All views expressed in
the News Briefs are solely those of the author. Please direct questions
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations and to reprint any or all
of the information. Previous Census News Briefs are posted on the Census
Project web site, at www.thecensusproject.org.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA Resource Center
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
hellooooo....ya think!!!!!!
Secretary Locke testified yesterday before the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science. In his opening
statement, panel Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-WV) said the 2010 census “has
been beset by a lack of management and oversight, a lack of acquisitions
expertise, and a lack of transparency by an agency whose culture is
perceived as so impenetrable as to be self-defeating.” He noted that
the revised contract for handheld computers, which limited use of the
devices to address canvassing this year, has “renewed some confidence”
in the Census Bureau, but that “great risk remains” in the decennial census.
>>> edc(a)berwyned.com 4/29/2009 11:45 AM >>>
April 29, 2009
SECRETARY LOCKE PRESENTS 2010 BUDGET REQUEST
TO APPROPRIATORS
Plus: Latino leaders reject call for census boycott; Advisory panel
expresses ‘no confidence’in paid ad campaign; and more.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke made his first appearance before the
congressional Appropriations Committees in his new role as head of the
department that oversees the U.S. Census Bureau. The Senate
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science held a hearing on April
23 to consider President Obama’s funding request for Fiscal Year 2010
(FY2010), although the President has yet to release a detailed budget.
(See February 26, 2009 Census News Brief for information on the
President’s budget outline for FY2010.)
Secretary Locke told appropriators that the Administration’s request of
$13.8 billion in discretionary funds for the far-flung Commerce
Department includes an increase of $4.3 billion over the Fiscal Year
2009 funding level for the 2010 census, for a likely total request of
roughly $7 billion. The Census Bureau will have additional funds
available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; the agency
will spend the $1 billion stimulus bill allotment in both 2009 and 2010.
Expenditures in 2010 could be in the range of $7.8 billion, including
FY2009 allotments carried over to 2010.
In his prepared statement, the Secretary assured lawmakers that the
Census Bureau would have adequate funds to hire nearly 1.5 million
temporary workers to carry out the census. He highlighted the
importance of “extensive advertising and partnership activities on
hard-to-reach populations, to encourage a high response rate.”
Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said she was especially
concerned about the FBI’s ability to process fingerprint and background
checks for the large temporary workforce in a timely way next year. For
the 2010 census, all census workers must clear FBI-administered
background checks before they are hired and then fingerprint checks when
their post-hiring training begins. In 2000, the FBI ran name-based
background checks only on temporary census employees. Sen. Mikulski
also cited concerns about management of the census, saying she was
interested in learning about reforms to be sure the 2010 census “will
not be delayed or compromised.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the panel’s ranking member, said he was
“concerned with the potential for political mischief in the execution of
the 2010 census,” citing previous statements by a presidential spokesman
about the White House’s role in overseeing the census. The senator
noted that President Obama’s nominee for Census director, Dr. Robert
Groves, supported a statistical adjustment of the 1990 census, a
sample-based correction of the original census numbers that the senator
said would “lazily backfill and inaccurately represent the count of our
nation’s residents.” Sen. Shelby expressed concern that a political
party could use sampling-based adjustments of the population count to
steer more federal program dollars to communities represented by members
of its own party.
He also suggested that the White House or the Census Bureau could
manipulate the census numbers “solely for political gain” by
undercounting in some states and overcounting in others. The Census
Bureau’s evaluation of accuracy in the 1990 census, when Dr. Groves
served as an Associate Director at the agency (a career position),
showed that all states were undercounted to some degree. (Alabama’s
estimated undercount of about 1.8 percent was slightly higher than the
estimated net national undercount of 1.6 percent in 1990.) Then-Census
Director Barbara Everitt Bryant, appointed by President George H.W.
Bush, recommended use of the accuracy-check survey (called the Post
Enumeration Survey, or PES) to correct undercounts and overcounts in the
1990 census. Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher rejected the
recommendation.
Calling the census “the most serious looming issue” facing the new
Secretary, Sen. Shelby said the decision to use paper-and-pencil,
instead of handheld computers, to collect information from unresponsive
households was due to “managerial failures and incompetence” and would
increase the total cost of the 2010 census to nearly $15 billion.
Secretary Locke testified yesterday before the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science. In his opening
statement, panel Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-WV) said the 2010 census “has
been beset by a lack of management and oversight, a lack of acquisitions
expertise, and a lack of transparency by an agency whose culture is
perceived as so impenetrable as to be self-defeating.” He noted that
the revised contract for handheld computers, which limited use of the
devices to address canvassing this year, has “renewed some confidence”
in the Census Bureau, but that “great risk remains” in the decennial census.
Census Bureau outlines plans to spend stimulus funds: The Census Bureau
has submitted to Congress its plans for spending an additional $1
billion allocated for the 2010 census in the stimulus package. “The
Census Bureau’s proposed investments will improve our ability to conduct
an accurate census and will create thousands of good-paying jobs,”
Commerce Secretary Locke said in a press statement.
The agency will spend $250 million to expand its partnership and
outreach efforts to minority communities and other hard-to-reach
populations, including $120 million to increase partnerships by hiring
an additional 2,000 Partnership Specialists in regional offices by July
2009. It is adding $100 million to the broader communications plan,
which includes paid advertising and the Census in the Schools program.
The bureau will spend $30 million to hire more telephone interviewers
working during the census from call centers to follow-up with households
whose census questionnaires indicate – through answers to so-called
‘probe questions’ – that someone may have been left off the form or
included mistakenly (Coverage Follow-Up operation).
The remaining $750 million, the Census Bureau said, will “support early
2010 Census operations that will reduce operational and programmatic
risks.” Specific spending plans include enhancements to the following
operations:
● Group Quarters enumeration (college dorms, prisons, military barracks,
etc.) -- $138 million
● Update/Leave operation (census workers deliver questionnaires in
remote areas and communities with hard-to-pinpoint addresses, and update
address lists and maps as they go) -- $116 million
● Update/Enumerate operation (similar to Update/Leave, but census
workers collect census responses as they visit housing units; used on
American Indian reservations, colonias, and resort areas with high
seasonal vacancy rates) -- $108 million
● Local Census Office (LCO) staffing (LCOs support all major census
field operations; roughly 500 LCOs planned for 2010) -- $388 million
Hispanic faith group rejects call for census boycott: The National
Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) called on Latinos,
“regardless of faith or legal status,” to participate in the 2010
census. The self-described “largest Hispanic faith organization” in the
U.S. issued a statement last week after the National Coalition of Latino
Clergy & Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC) urged undocumented residents to
boycott the 2010 census unless Congress enacts “genuine immigration
reform.” According to its web site, CONLAMIC works in “support of a
comprehensive solution to the immigration crisis and to combat local
anti-immigrant crackdowns."
Rev. Miguel Rivera, CONLAMIC’s chairman, said in an article on the
Coalition’s web site that, “Our church leaders have witnessed misuse of
otherwise benign Census population data by state and local public
officials in their efforts to pass and enact laws that assist in the
perpetration of civil rights violations and abuses against undocumented
workers and families.” Rev. Rivera urged the estimated 30 percent of
his Coalition’s church members who are undocumented residents not to
participate in the census until Congress and the Obama Administration
approve comprehensive immigration legislation. CONLAMIC says it
represents about 20,000 evangelical churches in 34 states. In an April
21, 2009 Associated Press report, Rev. Rivera also noted, “Even though
they [undocumented immigrants] don't vote, they are being used as guinea
pigs to get money for cities," an apparent reference to the use of
census data to allocate nearly $400 billion annually in federal program
funds to states and local governments.
Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus, Vice President of Social Justice for the NHCLC,
countered COMLAMIC’s suggested benefits of a boycott, saying that fair
political representation, allocation of resources, and tracking
demographic change in the Latino community depended on an accurate
count. “The clear majority of Latino advocacy and faith organizations
support the efforts of the U.S. Census Bureau to count each person in
America in 2010,” Rev. De Jesus said.
Other Latino leaders also expressed disappointment in the boycott
movement. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), chairwoman of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus (CHC), said in a statement, “To not be counted would
have political implications and jeopardize vital resources, including
federal funding for schools, health care, job training and
infrastructure.” Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), chairman of the CHC’s
Civil Rights, Veterans, and Worker Protections Task Force, added,
“Boycott groups are uniting and bringing attention to the important
issue of immigration reform; though well intentioned, their efforts are
failing to take into account the long-term implications of their
actions. 2010 census numbers will affect the daily lives of all
Hispanics throughout the next ten years; we must not let this important
opportunity for representation pass us by.”
Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino
Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and a member of the Census
Bureau’s 2010 Census Advisory Committee, said the strategy “may be
well-intended but misguided and ultimately irresponsible.”
Advisory panel expresses ‘no confidence’ in communications contractor:
A panel of stakeholders advising the Census Bureau on the 2010 census
paid advertising campaign issued a vote of “no confidence” in Draftfcb,
the prime contractor responsible for the Communications program, which
includes advertising and outreach to promote participation in the
census. The Joint Advertising Advisory Review Panel (JAARP), comprised
of representatives of the Census Bureau’s official advisory committees,
met last week to review proposed ads Draftfcb developed for the national
census promotion campaign.
The Census Bureau’s five Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees (REACs),
representing communities of color that are at higher risk of
undercounting in the census and other Census Bureau surveys, concurred
with JAARP’s ‘no confidence’ statement with respect to Draftfcb’s
creative materials for the 2010 census general campaign, at their
biannual meetings held later in the week.
Former Census director to advise Census Bureau through 2010 count:
Former Census director Kenneth Prewitt, who headed the Census Bureau
during the 2000 census, will be a part-time consultant to the agency as
it moves from final preparations to conduct the decennial count next
year. A Commerce Department spokesman confirmed the arrangement to the
Washington-based National Journal on Monday, after Republicans in the
House of Representatives indicated they were drafting a letter to
Secretary Gary Locke, protesting Dr. Prewitt’s “back door entry” to the
agency without going through the formal confirmation process.
In their letter to the Secretary, Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA), ranking
member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Patrick
McHenry (R-NC), senior Republican on the Subcommittee on Information
Policy, Census, and National Archives, and two other Republican members
of the census oversight subcommittee, said that the consulting
arrangement could be viewed as “circumvention of congressional
oversight” and “a blatant disregard” of the Senate’s confirmation role.
The lawmakers requested specific information about the terms of Dr.
Prewitt’s consulting agreement, including how much he will be paid,
where his office is located, the nature of his work, and the projects on
which he will work. The full text of the letter is available at
http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/media/4-28-09PrewittCensus.pdf.
Dr. Prewitt, now the Vice-President for Global Centers and Carnegie
Professor of Public Affairs at Columbia University, was the leading
choice for Census director in the new Administration, according to
former Commerce Secretary nominee Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), until Dr.
Prewitt withdrew his name from consideration. The National Journal
article quoted Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a member of the census
oversight subcommittee, as saying, “Considering former Secretary
[Carlos] Gutierrez used [Prewitt] as a consultant, too, you have to ask
why the Republicans are in such a tizzy,” a reference to Dr. Prewitt’s
appointment last year to an expert panel advising the Commerce Secretary
on options to modify the 2010 census plan after concerns about the
performance of handheld computers came to light.
New information on “hard to count” populations by State: The Census
Project has posted a new table on its web site
(www.thecensusproject.org, Fact Sheets) showing the percent of people in
each State living in “hard-to-count” areas, by race and Hispanic origin.
The new Fact Sheet explains how the Census Bureau defines
hard-to-count areas; the analysis is based on 2000 census data from the
Census Bureau’s 2010 Census Planning Database, which the agency is using
to target outreach, promotion, and other resources in communities that
are at greater risk of an undercount.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census. All views expressed in
the News Briefs are solely those of the author. Please direct questions
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations and to reprint any or all
of the information. Previous Census News Briefs are posted on the Census
Project web site, at www.thecensusproject.org.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
April 29, 2009
SECRETARY LOCKE PRESENTS 2010 BUDGET REQUEST
TO APPROPRIATORS
Plus: Latino leaders reject call for census boycott; Advisory panel
expresses ‘no confidence’in paid ad campaign; and more.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke made his first appearance before the
congressional Appropriations Committees in his new role as head of the
department that oversees the U.S. Census Bureau. The Senate
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science held a hearing on April
23 to consider President Obama’s funding request for Fiscal Year 2010
(FY2010), although the President has yet to release a detailed budget.
(See February 26, 2009 Census News Brief for information on the
President’s budget outline for FY2010.)
Secretary Locke told appropriators that the Administration’s request of
$13.8 billion in discretionary funds for the far-flung Commerce
Department includes an increase of $4.3 billion over the Fiscal Year
2009 funding level for the 2010 census, for a likely total request of
roughly $7 billion. The Census Bureau will have additional funds
available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; the agency
will spend the $1 billion stimulus bill allotment in both 2009 and 2010.
Expenditures in 2010 could be in the range of $7.8 billion, including
FY2009 allotments carried over to 2010.
In his prepared statement, the Secretary assured lawmakers that the
Census Bureau would have adequate funds to hire nearly 1.5 million
temporary workers to carry out the census. He highlighted the
importance of “extensive advertising and partnership activities on
hard-to-reach populations, to encourage a high response rate.”
Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said she was especially
concerned about the FBI’s ability to process fingerprint and background
checks for the large temporary workforce in a timely way next year. For
the 2010 census, all census workers must clear FBI-administered
background checks before they are hired and then fingerprint checks when
their post-hiring training begins. In 2000, the FBI ran name-based
background checks only on temporary census employees. Sen. Mikulski
also cited concerns about management of the census, saying she was
interested in learning about reforms to be sure the 2010 census “will
not be delayed or compromised.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the panel’s ranking member, said he was
“concerned with the potential for political mischief in the execution of
the 2010 census,” citing previous statements by a presidential spokesman
about the White House’s role in overseeing the census. The senator
noted that President Obama’s nominee for Census director, Dr. Robert
Groves, supported a statistical adjustment of the 1990 census, a
sample-based correction of the original census numbers that the senator
said would “lazily backfill and inaccurately represent the count of our
nation’s residents.” Sen. Shelby expressed concern that a political
party could use sampling-based adjustments of the population count to
steer more federal program dollars to communities represented by members
of its own party.
He also suggested that the White House or the Census Bureau could
manipulate the census numbers “solely for political gain” by
undercounting in some states and overcounting in others. The Census
Bureau’s evaluation of accuracy in the 1990 census, when Dr. Groves
served as an Associate Director at the agency (a career position),
showed that all states were undercounted to some degree. (Alabama’s
estimated undercount of about 1.8 percent was slightly higher than the
estimated net national undercount of 1.6 percent in 1990.) Then-Census
Director Barbara Everitt Bryant, appointed by President George H.W.
Bush, recommended use of the accuracy-check survey (called the Post
Enumeration Survey, or PES) to correct undercounts and overcounts in the
1990 census. Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher rejected the
recommendation.
Calling the census “the most serious looming issue” facing the new
Secretary, Sen. Shelby said the decision to use paper-and-pencil,
instead of handheld computers, to collect information from unresponsive
households was due to “managerial failures and incompetence” and would
increase the total cost of the 2010 census to nearly $15 billion.
Secretary Locke testified yesterday before the House Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science. In his opening
statement, panel Chairman Alan Mollohan (D-WV) said the 2010 census “has
been beset by a lack of management and oversight, a lack of acquisitions
expertise, and a lack of transparency by an agency whose culture is
perceived as so impenetrable as to be self-defeating.” He noted that
the revised contract for handheld computers, which limited use of the
devices to address canvassing this year, has “renewed some confidence”
in the Census Bureau, but that “great risk remains” in the decennial census.
Census Bureau outlines plans to spend stimulus funds: The Census Bureau
has submitted to Congress its plans for spending an additional $1
billion allocated for the 2010 census in the stimulus package. “The
Census Bureau’s proposed investments will improve our ability to conduct
an accurate census and will create thousands of good-paying jobs,”
Commerce Secretary Locke said in a press statement.
The agency will spend $250 million to expand its partnership and
outreach efforts to minority communities and other hard-to-reach
populations, including $120 million to increase partnerships by hiring
an additional 2,000 Partnership Specialists in regional offices by July
2009. It is adding $100 million to the broader communications plan,
which includes paid advertising and the Census in the Schools program.
The bureau will spend $30 million to hire more telephone interviewers
working during the census from call centers to follow-up with households
whose census questionnaires indicate – through answers to so-called
‘probe questions’ – that someone may have been left off the form or
included mistakenly (Coverage Follow-Up operation).
The remaining $750 million, the Census Bureau said, will “support early
2010 Census operations that will reduce operational and programmatic
risks.” Specific spending plans include enhancements to the following
operations:
• Group Quarters enumeration (college dorms, prisons, military barracks,
etc.) -- $138 million
• Update/Leave operation (census workers deliver questionnaires in
remote areas and communities with hard-to-pinpoint addresses, and update
address lists and maps as they go) -- $116 million
• Update/Enumerate operation (similar to Update/Leave, but census
workers collect census responses as they visit housing units; used on
American Indian reservations, colonias, and resort areas with high
seasonal vacancy rates) -- $108 million
• Local Census Office (LCO) staffing (LCOs support all major census
field operations; roughly 500 LCOs planned for 2010) -- $388 million
Hispanic faith group rejects call for census boycott: The National
Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) called on Latinos,
“regardless of faith or legal status,” to participate in the 2010
census. The self-described “largest Hispanic faith organization” in the
U.S. issued a statement last week after the National Coalition of Latino
Clergy & Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC) urged undocumented residents to
boycott the 2010 census unless Congress enacts “genuine immigration
reform.” According to its web site, CONLAMIC works in “support of a
comprehensive solution to the immigration crisis and to combat local
anti-immigrant crackdowns."
Rev. Miguel Rivera, CONLAMIC’s chairman, said in an article on the
Coalition’s web site that, “Our church leaders have witnessed misuse of
otherwise benign Census population data by state and local public
officials in their efforts to pass and enact laws that assist in the
perpetration of civil rights violations and abuses against undocumented
workers and families.” Rev. Rivera urged the estimated 30 percent of
his Coalition’s church members who are undocumented residents not to
participate in the census until Congress and the Obama Administration
approve comprehensive immigration legislation. CONLAMIC says it
represents about 20,000 evangelical churches in 34 states. In an April
21, 2009 Associated Press report, Rev. Rivera also noted, “Even though
they [undocumented immigrants] don't vote, they are being used as guinea
pigs to get money for cities," an apparent reference to the use of
census data to allocate nearly $400 billion annually in federal program
funds to states and local governments.
Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus, Vice President of Social Justice for the NHCLC,
countered COMLAMIC’s suggested benefits of a boycott, saying that fair
political representation, allocation of resources, and tracking
demographic change in the Latino community depended on an accurate
count. “The clear majority of Latino advocacy and faith organizations
support the efforts of the U.S. Census Bureau to count each person in
America in 2010,” Rev. De Jesus said.
Other Latino leaders also expressed disappointment in the boycott
movement. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), chairwoman of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus (CHC), said in a statement, “To not be counted would
have political implications and jeopardize vital resources, including
federal funding for schools, health care, job training and
infrastructure.” Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-TX), chairman of the CHC’s
Civil Rights, Veterans, and Worker Protections Task Force, added,
“Boycott groups are uniting and bringing attention to the important
issue of immigration reform; though well intentioned, their efforts are
failing to take into account the long-term implications of their
actions. 2010 census numbers will affect the daily lives of all
Hispanics throughout the next ten years; we must not let this important
opportunity for representation pass us by.”
Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino
Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) and a member of the Census
Bureau’s 2010 Census Advisory Committee, said the strategy “may be
well-intended but misguided and ultimately irresponsible.”
Advisory panel expresses ‘no confidence’ in communications contractor:
A panel of stakeholders advising the Census Bureau on the 2010 census
paid advertising campaign issued a vote of “no confidence” in Draftfcb,
the prime contractor responsible for the Communications program, which
includes advertising and outreach to promote participation in the
census. The Joint Advertising Advisory Review Panel (JAARP), comprised
of representatives of the Census Bureau’s official advisory committees,
met last week to review proposed ads Draftfcb developed for the national
census promotion campaign.
The Census Bureau’s five Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees (REACs),
representing communities of color that are at higher risk of
undercounting in the census and other Census Bureau surveys, concurred
with JAARP’s ‘no confidence’ statement with respect to Draftfcb’s
creative materials for the 2010 census general campaign, at their
biannual meetings held later in the week.
Former Census director to advise Census Bureau through 2010 count:
Former Census director Kenneth Prewitt, who headed the Census Bureau
during the 2000 census, will be a part-time consultant to the agency as
it moves from final preparations to conduct the decennial count next
year. A Commerce Department spokesman confirmed the arrangement to the
Washington-based National Journal on Monday, after Republicans in the
House of Representatives indicated they were drafting a letter to
Secretary Gary Locke, protesting Dr. Prewitt’s “back door entry” to the
agency without going through the formal confirmation process.
In their letter to the Secretary, Rep. Darryl Issa (R-CA), ranking
member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Patrick
McHenry (R-NC), senior Republican on the Subcommittee on Information
Policy, Census, and National Archives, and two other Republican members
of the census oversight subcommittee, said that the consulting
arrangement could be viewed as “circumvention of congressional
oversight” and “a blatant disregard” of the Senate’s confirmation role.
The lawmakers requested specific information about the terms of Dr.
Prewitt’s consulting agreement, including how much he will be paid,
where his office is located, the nature of his work, and the projects on
which he will work. The full text of the letter is available at
http://republicans.oversight.house.gov/media/4-28-09PrewittCensus.pdf.
Dr. Prewitt, now the Vice-President for Global Centers and Carnegie
Professor of Public Affairs at Columbia University, was the leading
choice for Census director in the new Administration, according to
former Commerce Secretary nominee Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), until Dr.
Prewitt withdrew his name from consideration. The National Journal
article quoted Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), a member of the census
oversight subcommittee, as saying, “Considering former Secretary
[Carlos] Gutierrez used [Prewitt] as a consultant, too, you have to ask
why the Republicans are in such a tizzy,” a reference to Dr. Prewitt’s
appointment last year to an expert panel advising the Commerce Secretary
on options to modify the 2010 census plan after concerns about the
performance of handheld computers came to light.
New information on “hard to count” populations by State: The Census
Project has posted a new table on its web site
(www.thecensusproject.org, Fact Sheets) showing the percent of people in
each State living in “hard-to-count” areas, by race and Hispanic origin.
The new Fact Sheet explains how the Census Bureau defines
hard-to-count areas; the analysis is based on 2000 census data from the
Census Bureau’s 2010 Census Planning Database, which the agency is using
to target outreach, promotion, and other resources in communities that
are at greater risk of an undercount.
Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, an independent
legislative and policy consultant working with a wide range of census
stakeholders to promote an accurate 2010 census. All views expressed in
the News Briefs are solely those of the author. Please direct questions
about the information in this News Brief to Ms. Lowenthal at
TerriAnn2K(a)aol.com. Please feel free to circulate this document to
other interested individuals and organizations and to reprint any or all
of the information. Previous Census News Briefs are posted on the Census
Project web site, at www.thecensusproject.org.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
