CENSUS NEWS BRIEF - ctpp-news

5 Feb 2009

CONCERNS ABOUT GREGG ON CENSUS PROMPT WHITE HOUSE TO ASSERT
AUTHORITY; REPUBLICANS CHARGE POLITICIZATION OF CENSUS COUNT
Plus: Senate continues stimulus spending debate; 111th Congress 
continues to organize.

Responding to concerns from key census stakeholders about the 
President’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, Obama Administration 
officials said the Census Director would report directly to the White 
House, according to an article by Jonathan Allen in today’s 
Congressional Quarterly.  A posting by Philip Rucker on The Washington 
Post Blog subsequently quoted a White House statement as saying: “From 
the first days of the transition the Census has been a priority for the 
president, and a process he wanted to reevaluate.  There is historic 
precedent for the director of the Census, who works for the commerce 
secretary and the president, to work closely with White House senior 
management, given the number of decisions that will have to be put 
before the president. We plan to return to that model in this 
administration."

It was not clear from the Administration’s statement whether the Census 
Director would bypass the Commerce Secretary only on matters related to 
the 2010 census or on all Census Bureau activities.

Republican leaders on the House Oversight and Government Reform 
Committee, which has jurisdiction over the census, called the 
Administration’s plan a “power grab to politicize [the] census.”  Rep. 
Darrell Issa (R-CA), the committee’s senior Republican member, and Rep. 
Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the new ranking minority member on the 
committee’s census oversight panel, said in a statement: “President 
Obama’s calls for bipartisanship are severely damaged when reports 
indicate they’re maneuvering to stab Republicans in the back through a 
national gerrymander orchestrated directly by the White House.”

In a letter to the President, the lawmakers said they were “shocked and 
dismayed” by the White House’s statement on the census.  “Requiring the 
Census Director to report directly to White House Chief of Staff Rahm 
Emanuel is a shamefully transparent attempt by your Administration to 
politicize the Census Bureau and manipulate the 2010 Census.”  Rahm 
Emanuel is a former Democratic member of Congress and former head of the 
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.  Reps. Issa and McHenry 
also suggested that having the Census Director report directly to the 
White House might violate the Census Act (Title 13, United States Code), 
which places the Census Bureau under the jurisdiction of the Department 
of Commerce.

President Obama nominated Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) to head the Commerce 
Department, which houses the U.S. Census Bureau, earlier this week.  As 
reported in the February 3, 2009 Census News Brief, Sen. Gregg chaired 
the Appropriations subcommittee that funded the Census Bureau during the 
2000 census and objected to an “emergency” appropriation of $1.7 billion 
that the Clinton Administration requested after a 1999 Supreme Court 
ruling forced a redesign of the census.

The nomination prompted some census stakeholders to express concern 
about the Senator’s commitment to ensuring an accurate 2010 census. 
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, 
issued a statement saying, in part, “[S]en. Gregg’s record of previously 
voting to abolish the Commerce Department and his attempts to block 
President Bill Clinton’s efforts to secure adequate funding for the 2000 
census raise troubling concerns regarding his commitment to the 
department’s core missions.”  The National Association of Latino Elected 
and Appointed Officials (NALEO), a member of the Census Bureau’s 2010 
Census Advisory Committee, said in a statement that Sen. Gregg’s “record 
raises serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 
Census produces the most accurate possible count of the nation’s 
population. … NALEO will be closely monitoring the confirmation process 
to learn more about Secretary-Designate Gregg’s view of the Department’s 
responsibility to conduct an accurate census.”

Amendments target extra funds for census in stimulus bill:  The U.S. 
Senate continued consideration of the “American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009” today, after defeating at least one amendment 
that would have stripped funds for the 2010 census from the measure. 
Yesterday, by a vote of 32 – 65, senators rejected an amendment offered 
by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to “eliminate unnecessary spending” in the 
stimulus bill, including $1 billion for 250,000 additional census 
takers, more partnership specialists, and increased outreach and promotion.

In a statement explaining his amendment, Sen. Vitter called the 2010 
census a “bottomless pit,” noting that Congress allocated additional 
funds for the census last year after the Census Bureau dropped plans to 
use handheld computers for door-to-door visits to unresponsive 
households.  The proposed funding, the senator said, “is not job 
creation … it is not economic stimulus. … [It] is run-of-the-mill, 
Washington-big-Government spending,” suggesting that Congress should 
debate the need for more money at another time.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) decided not to offer an amendment to eliminate 
the census funds from the stimulus bill.  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), 
ranking Republican on the Census Bureau’s oversight subcommittee, 
reportedly was still considering such an amendment.

111th Congress continues to organize:  Congressional committees continue 
to organize for the 111th Congress.  Democrats on the House Oversight 
and Government Reform Committee have made subcommittee assignments for 
the 111th Congress.  The Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and 
National Archives is responsible for oversight of the Census Bureau and 
authorization of Census Bureau activities.  Republicans are expected to 
announce their subcommittee assignments by next week; Rep. Patrick 
McHenry will be the new ranking Republican member on the census 
oversight panel.

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
(Democratic Members)

Chair:  William Lacy Clay, Missouri
Paul Kanjorski, Pennsylvania
Carolyn Maloney, New York
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia
Danny Davis, Illinois
Steve Driehaus, Ohio
Diane Watson, California

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
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)

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