Re: [CTPP] CENSUS NEWS BRIEF (Away from Office)

Hi, I am out of office and will be back on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. If you need demographic information, please call (303) 866-4147 (Becky Picaso). For questions related to the CTF 7/1/2008 Housing Unit and GQ Population Estimates Review, please contact Elizabeth Garner, State Demographer, at (303) 866-3096 or email address at elizabeth.garner(a)state.co.us. Thank you. PRESIDENT SELECTS SEN. GREGG FOR COMMERCE SECRETARY; SENATE CONSIDERS $1B FOR CENSUS IN STIMULUS BILL Plus: House Passes Stimulus Funds for Census President Obama has selected Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, to be his Commerce Secretary. The post would give Sen. Gregg authority over the Census Bureau and upcoming decennial census. The Census Bureau is part of the Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), which also houses the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Sen. Gregg, a three-term senator, former representative, and former New Hampshire governor, is the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee. He is a member and former chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science (formerly Commerce, Justice, and State), which funds the Census Bureau. The biography posted on his official web site highlights his interest in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), another large Commerce Department agency. Sen. Gregg chaired the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and State during the 2000 census. In 1999, he questioned the Administration’s request for additional census funding for fiscal year 2000; the Census Bureau had asked for an extra $1.7 billion after a Supreme Court decision forced it to redesign non-response follow-up operations. The House of Representatives had approved the full $4.5 billion for the census year, while the Senate allocated the $2.8 billion the Administration had sought before the Court ruling in a case challenging the use of sampling to compile census population counts used for congressional apportionment. Sen. Gregg especially questioned the House’s proposal to designate all census funding for 2000 as “emergency” spending, which would remove the allocation from under tight budget caps. The impasse over census funding helped delay passage of final spending bills for 2000; Congress eventually approved the full funding request, designating the entire amount as an “emergency.” The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold confirmation hearings for Sen. Gregg, while the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be responsible for confirming a Census director. President Obama has not yet nominated an Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, who oversees the ESA, or Census Bureau director; both positions require Senate confirmation. Economic stimulus bill includes extra funds for 2010 census: On January 28, by a vote of 244 – 188, the U.S. House of Representatives approved an $819 economic stimulus bill (H.R. 1) that includes $1 billion in additional funds for the 2010 census. No Republican lawmakers supported the bill. The stimulus package requested by President Obama is also working its way through the U.S. Senate. Last week, the Committee on Appropriations approved its own version of the economic recovery package (S. 336), which includes $1 billion for the 2010 census. The funds would be available until September 30, 2010. The Census Bureau is required by law to report state population totals to the President by December 31, 2010, and detailed populations counts to the states for redistricting purposes by April 1, 2011. Committee report language (S. Rept. 111-3) directs the Census Bureau to use $780 million to hire more census takers “to count underserved communities”; $120 million to expand the Partnership Program, “with specific focus being placed on hard to reach populations”; and $100 million to increase outreach and promotion “to minority communities.” Appropriators suggested that the Census Bureau hire additional staff who are experienced with partnership programs and are trusted community leaders who can convey the importance of participating in the census to “hard to reach” populations. The full Senate is considering the package this week. Amendments to strip or reduce some of the funding from the bill, including the proposed $1 billion for the 2010 census, are possible. The House version of the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” does not lay out as many specific dollar amounts for spending the additional money, instead saying more broadly that the Census Bureau should “hire additional personnel, provide required training, increase targeted media purchases, and improve management of other operational and programmatic risks to ensure a successful decennial.” The Census Bureau should use $150 million for “expanded communications and outreach programs to minimize undercounting of minority groups,” according to the House Appropriations committee. An analysis of the economic stimulus package by Robert Santos of the Urban Institute, a Washington, DC think-tank, concludes that the proposed spending for the 2010 census “would provide an infusion of new jobs, better community participation and a more accurate census.” Dr. Santos calls the census “a shovel-ready infrastructure project,” a reference to one of President Obama’s criteria for including projects in a stimulus package. The analysis is available on-line at http://www.urban.org/issues/recovery.cfm#santos. Senator urges quick appointment of Census Director: Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security (Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs), sent a letter to President Obama on January 28, urging him to “move quickly to fill the top leadership at the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau with individuals with the knowledge and the management skills necessary to get the ongoing preparations for the 2010 Census back on track for good.” The chairman said that “serious challenges in managing key information technology activities” and reduced spending on advertising and outreach have led the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to designate the 2010 census as a “high risk” federal program. Sen. Carper called on the President to make the “overall success [of the census] a top priority of your Administration.” The Federal Financial Management panel has tentatively scheduled an oversight hearing for February 25 to review the status of planning for the 2010 census. Census News Briefs are prepared by Terri Ann Lowenthal, a consultant to the nonpartisan Census Project, organized by the Communications Consortium Media Center in Washington, DC. 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. Previous Census News Briefs are posted at www.thecensusproject.org -- Ed Christopher Resource Center Planning Team Federal Highway Administration 19900 Governors Drive Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461 708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell) 708-283-3501 (F) _______________________________________________ ctpp-news mailing list ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news